
Class ZB-XSA^i' 
Book TV\3.A3 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 




REV. J. RAST. 



LIFE SKETCHES 

STRIKING INCIDENTS AND 
SERMON. 



BY 



REV. J. RAST, 



xx 



PENTECOSTAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
Louisville, Ky. 






COPYRIGHT, 1913, 

By 

Rev. J. Rast. 



PCI.A354827, 



DEDICATED. 

To my granddaughter, Virginia M. Rast, this 
book is affectionately dedicated. 

Rev. J. Rast. 



INTEODUCTION, 



I make no apology for this introduction,more than- when 
I was called to preach the gospel, I was called to write 
and in this volume is the production of my life. If some 
souls shall be led to Christ and some souls shall be led 
into the experience of sanctification, the object of this 
book will be attained. J. East. 



PREFACE 



The name of the author of this work is signed to my 
credential as a preacher; that signature was written over 
a quarter of a century ago ; before and since that time, I 
heard with thrilling interest some of the startling inci- 
dents he herewith presents to the public. He makes no 
pretentions to literary merits; all he aims at is to state 
some of the precious and startling things of his four 
score years as a fully sanctified man and local Preacher. 
His love for the simple truth is such that no artistic 
coloring is used and for this reason the incidents recorded 
can be accepted with perfect confidence. I bespeak for 
this book and its eminently worthy author, the kindly 
consideration of the church for whose special interest it 
is written. L. W. Mooke. 



INDEX. 

Chapters. 

I — 'Ancestors and Childhood 7 

II — My Conversion 18 

III— Entered School at Cokesbury, S. C. . . 38 

IV— Moved to Florida 42 

V — St. Mary's Mission 55 

VI— Emotions 72 

VII— A Eevival 88 

IX— The Wages of Sin 100 

X— How to be Saved 102 

XI— Guiding of the Spirit 121 

XII. .iPreaching to Sinners 131 

XIII — A Bemarkable Incident 141 

XIV— Healed 146 

XV— On Education 148 

XVI— The Soul's Conviction 150 

XVII— Bales and Guides 163 



OHAPTEB I. 

ANCESTORS AND CHILDHOOD. 

My father was of Dutch descent, born in the state of 
South Carolina, Charleston District, St. James' Gooce 
Creek Parish in 1791. My mother wae born in 1801, 
the daughter of Jeremiah Bunch. 

My father and mother had born to them eight child- 
len, four sons and four daughters. My father's farm lay 
fifty-one miles north of Charleston, S. C. on Four Hole 
Swamp near Bunch's Ford, where I was born June 15th, 
1S28, where I was brought up, I being the sixth child. 

Now in my seventy-seventh year memory carries me 
back to the scenes of happy childhood and youthful days 
and hours that I spent on the old farm in the routine of 
work that I had to do with brothers and sisters. 

It gives me pleasure now to think of (I remember well) 
the first school that I was sent to ; it was a public school 
taught in the neighborhood. There were few educated 
people in that part of the country. I remember hearing 
my father speak of the difficulty in getting a teacher, no 
one was competent to teach. A number of heads of fain-? 
ilies could neither read nor write. My father could not 
write his own name and my mother did not know a let- 
ter in the book; finally a Frenchman was employed to 
teach the school who was said to be competent, a Mr. 
Broughton. 

The school opened and I was given Webster's spelling 
book to loam the alphabet. With sisters and brothers we 

7 



8 Life Sketches, 

started to the schoolhouse ; my mother told me that I 
must mind the teacher and not get a whipping. In those 
days it seemed that by common consent both by parents 
and teachers that education had to be whipped into 
children; it was so in my case. The schoolhouse stood 
in a beautiful pine forest ; it was built of pine poles with 
the bark on them; a chimney was built at one end and 
daubed inside with clay; a door was cut in one side 
of the house for entrance with no shutters ; the floor was 
dirt covered over with pine straw for a carpet, the benches 
were made of logs hewn on both sides and split open with 
auger holes bored in them and pegs stuck in for legs. 

When we went up to the schoolhouse, the teacher and 
scholars were all in. I took a seat by a boy near my size 
a little away from the teacher; I looked at the teacher, 
then looked around in the house at the scholars to see how 
they were seated. 

The teacher took hold of a switch five feet long and 
brought it down across my lap as hard as he could. I 
jumped upon my feet frightened out of my wits; he or- 
dered me to sit down and 'look at your book." I held my 
book before my face for a while then I began to look 
around again ; he saw me and here came that great switch 
again across my lap with the command to 'look at your 
book." I again held my book before my face. Think of it, 
a child having to hold his book before his face from eight 
o'clock until twelve, trembling with fear and you have 
the picture I had. 

One consolation, I was not the only one that was 
whipped; the boys my size got this every day and some- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 9 

times twice. There was one boy the teacher seemed to 
have a spite against; he whipped him unmercifully. The 
boy was taken suddenly ill and died and I believe, and so 
did others, that the whipping was the cause of his death. 
To get a whipping before I had been in the school-house 
one minute so mortified my feelings that I could never get 
over it. There I would sit day after day and hold my book 
before my face and when he called me to say my letters 
he would speak to me so sharp that it often made me cry. 
Then he would lay the switch on me; I could not learn 
anything with such a teacher. I sat and held my book 
till my thumbs wore my book through to the back and 
parts of the letters were worn off, then the teacher made 
a cedar paddle about ten inches long and painted the let- 
ters on it with pen and ink and gave it to me and told 
me if I did not learn them and say them he would wear 
me out with the paddle. Worse and worse ; now I had to 
sit day after day and hold that paddle. I knew my letters 
and could say them at home but would not or could not 
say them to the teacher. He would take my hand and 
bend it back and paddle me in the palm with the paddle. 
Well, I thought the worst had come, but no, there was 
more to come. One day he ordered me to come to him 
and taking me by the collar with one hand and by the 
seat of my trousers with the other, he lifted me clear off 
the floor, carried me to the chimney and told me that he 
was going to throw me out at the top. He swung me 
back and forth, made a big effort, saying, "j\ t ow you will 
go." Sticking my head as far up the chimny as he could 



10 Life Sketches. 

get it, repeated it again and sat me down and walked 
back to his chair. 

When I went home I told my father and mother that 
it was no use for me to go to school any longer for I 
could not learn anything from that teacher ; he treated me 
too bad. They told me if I was not learning anything I 
had as well stay at home;; they did not send me any more. 

In this part lived a number of well-to-do farmers. Tar- 
get, the Methodist Church, two miles where we went to 
church and Sunday school was in Cypas Circuit, S. C. 
Conference. It was called the banner circuit because it 
raised more missionary money than any circuit in the 
conference. Two preachers were sent on this circuit to- 
gether which was often done then. The young preacher 
was fortunate that was sent to Cypas Circuit as our 
preacher. Mr. Moorer, a wealthy, staunch, Christian, 
with a commodious house, furnished a room for the 
preacher with a fire-place, a place for his library with 
convenience for study with a hearty welcome to come and 
occupy and stay as long as you please. 

The young preacher rode on horseback with saddle- 
bags cross his saddle to carry his books and clothing. 
When he rode up to Brother Moorer's he was invited to 
light and come in. A boy was ordered to take his horse 
which was well cared for till it was needed. A servant 
made fire in his room night and morning. He was re- 
quested to leave his boots outside of the room door upon 
retiring. If this was done, next morning when they were 
needed they were shining with blackening. This was 
one of the many places where the preacher found a home. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 11 

There were Brothers Thomas Durr and Dantzler, with 
others; the preachers^ wants were supplied. We had 
preaching twice each month, once by the senior and once 
by the junior preacher. Brother John Dunn was the class 
leader. He held class meetings twice each month. He 
was like Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Ghost. I 
heard him say in class-meeting that he believed that he 
had the religion that would enable him to shout glory to 
God when this world shall be on fire. 

Here in 1841 I joined the M. E. Church, South, under 
Sherrod Owens, a local preacher. In my thirteenth year 
I joined on six months' probation which was the law of 
the church then and at the end of the six months I wag 
received into full connection in the church. 

Memories carry me back to many pleasant scenes and 
the impressions made on my young heart. The class meet- 
ing was always interesting to me,and the many scenes that 
I have witnessed of the power of God in old Target 
church. There was Aunt Betsy Warnock, as she was 
called by nearly every one who knew her. She was a 
shouting Methodist. It was considered a very cold meet- 
ing if Aunt Betsey did not shout. They told me she was 
sanctified and I believed it; she always looked happy. 
When the class leader in examining the class would go to 
her, she would begin to tell of the love of God in her 
soul — it would end in a shout. While the preacher would 
be preaching, with tears of joy streaming from her eyes 
she would shout aloud for joy and it always seemed to 
help the preacher. It did not disturb the congregation, 
but added to the worship of the hour. There was Sister 



12 Life Sketches, 

Mary Marpely. Sometimes her face would shine like 
Moses' did when he came down from the Mount; she 
would cover her face with her handkerchief seemingly to 
hide it but it was no use for her very being shon^. 

I looked upon it as the old-time religion, such as 
gladdened the hearts of the Apostles and martyrs in those 
days. There was W. B. Thomas, a local preacher, one of 
the sweetest singers in Zion, a Holy Ghost preacher and 
powerful in prayer. 

My father was a peculiar man in his ways. He sel- 
dom ever went church but was very kind to his family, 
was willing for them to attend church. Providence Camp 
Ground was ten miles from us where camp meeting was 
held every year. We tented on the ground. After all the 
preparation was made father would take the wagon and 
team and haul us to the camp ground and see that we 
were fixed in a tent, then he would take the team back 
home and take care of everything till the meeting closed, 
them he would come after us and carry us back home. It 
made me feel real mean to think my father would stay at 
home by himself and let me go and enjoy all the meeting. 
I offered to stay at home and take care of everything and 
let him go to the camp meeting but we never could pre- 
vail on him to go. 

On this camp ground I have witnessed some wonder- 
ful scenes and heard some powerful preaching. William 
Capers before he was elected Bishop of the M. E. Church, 
South, preached with great eloquence and power and there 
were other able preachers — Fleming, Durant, Walker, 
Boyd, Limehouse, Nettles, Williams, Jenkins; he pro- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 13 

fessed holiness and preached it and was sometimes given 
the popular hour to preach at the camp meeting. I heard 
him preach on holiness at this camp. He said the people 
and some of the preachers say that holiness is my hobby. 
One definition of the word hobby is a little pony. I con- 
fess that holiness is my hobby and I expect to ride him 
into glory. 

There was Kev. Wm. Crook the great singer. A scene 
comes before me that I witnessed. It was Saturday night, 
the preacher had finished his sermon and sat down; the 
Heavenly message delivered. Brother Crook rose in the 
stand and commenced singing this song — 

"When for Eternal worlds we steer, 
And seas are calm and skies are clear; 
And faith in lively exercise 
And distant hills of Canaan rise, 
The soul for joy then claps her wings, 
And loud her lovely sonnet sings, 
I am going home." 

The soft mellow tones floating out on the stillness of 
the night and the glowing camp fires spreading light all 
round that made it wonderfully sweet and awfully solemn. 
The singer catching the inspiration of song began the sec- 
ond verse : 

"With cheerful hope her eyes explore, 
Each landmark on the distant shore; 
The trees of life, the pastures green, 
The crystal stream, delightful scene, 
Again for joy she claps her wings, 



14 Life Sketches, 

And loud her lovely sonnet sings, 
I am almost home." 

From the acts and looks of some of the audience they 
were nearing the Holy City and would soon be there; oth- 
ers seemed to be well on their way. The singer, full of 
the spirit of eong, started on the third verse : 

"The nearer still she draws to land, 
More eager all her powers expand ; 
With steady helm and free bent sail, 
Her anchor drops within the vail, 
Again for joy she claps her wings, 
And her Celestial sonnet sings, 
I am home at last." 

The Holy Ghost fell upon the congregation, there 
were shouts in the camp and the scene was beyond de- 
scription. 

The yearly return of the camp meeting at Provi- 
dence was always hailed with pleasure and delight by our 
family. There were religious feasts here. We witnessed 
powerful conversions at Providence camp grounds. Prov- 
idence camp grounds was in the midst of a number of 
slave owners and the colored people greatly enjoyed these 
yearly gatherings. They were given privileges by their 
Christian owners. 

. Mr. Thompson, an owner of slaves, was a man of the 
world; he did not believe in so much ado about relig- 
ion. His colored people asked his permission to go to 
the camp meeting ; he told them they should not go. They 
were badly disappointed. Finally he told them, "you may 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 15 

go if you will not take any part in the singing, praying 
and shouting." They went to the camp meeting. 

The colored people gathered on the ground till by Sat- 
urday there were near five hundred. On Saturday Mr. 
Thompson came and the Christian workers knowing him 
to be a man of influence went to him personally trying to 
persuade him to become a Christian. He turned away 
from them and would not hear, but stayed and heard the 
preaching. On Saturday night after the service of the 
white people closed the colored people commenced their 
worship by singing and praying and shouting, and only 
those that heard them can realize how they can sing their 
happy songs. The camp fires spreading light all round, 
Mr. Thompson decided to watch his servants to see if any 
of them did take part in the service. He drew near; 
standing against an oak tree where he could see all that 
was going on, he heard their happy songs and saw them 
kneel in prayer; the servants prayed specially for old Mas- 
ter and old Misses and young Master and young Misses, 
and the Holy Spirit came down upon them and their 
earnest devotion convinced him of the reality of religion. 
Deep conviction seized upon him, he tried to get away 
from it and in the effort to start he fell to the ground like 
Paul on his way to Damascus. The bystanders that saw 
him fall reported that Mr. Thompson had fallen dead 
near the harbor. A crowd gathered around him, raising 
considerable excitement in the camp. The old Christians 
examined him and decided he was not dead, they knew 
what the trouble was ; the power of God had gotten hold 
of him. They carried him under the arbor and laid him 



16 Life Sketches. 

on a bench in the altar and the Christians gathered 
around him and began to sing and pray for him. He said 
that he could hear and knew all that was going on but 
could not speak nor move a hand or foot, but he could, 
pray and that he prayed in great earnest, and just at two 
o'clock God, for Christ's sake, pardoned his sins. That 
loosened his tongue and set him at liberty. He rose from 
the bench shouting and praising God for what He had 
done for his soul. He went right to work telling every- 
body that God had pardoned his sins hunted up his as- 
sociates and begged them to accept Jesus as their Savior. 
He said to his servants, "Now you can sing, pray and 
shout as much as you want to and I will help you." 

Another scene occurs to my memory that I saw on 
Providence camp grounds. On Saturday ;at the close of 
the eleven o'clock service the door of the church was open 
for the reception of members, a bright little girl came for- 
ward and gave her hand to the preacher. Brother John 
Evans clapped his hands and said "Bless the Lord, my last 
child and grandchild has joined the church; now we are 
all on the way to heaven together." He was an aged man, 
his head was white with the frost of many winters. The 
next day Sunday, at the eleven o'clock service a mission- 
ary sermon was preached and collection was to be taken. 
Brother Evans, whose last child had joined the church the 
day before, rose in the congregation and said, "I want to 
make a speech before the collection is taken." He said, 
"You see I am an old man; I am looking in the faces 
of a prosperous and intelligent congregation. We are a 
happy people, but in my early recollection it was differ- 




Virginia M. Rast. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 17 

ent. For some years after the Kevolutionary war this part 
of the country was plagued with Tories lying out in the 
woods, killing and robbing the people; a man's life was 
hardly safe; there was law but there were so few people 
that it was difficult to have it executed. This part of the 
country was thinly settled, and what few people there were 
lived in settlements from Providence to End Swamp Set- 
tlement a distance of thirty miles. There was but one 
family ; they kept a tavern ten miles from Providence, on 
the public road leading to Charleston. There were little 
or no schools and no churches and the first preacher that 
came to this part of the country to preach the gospel was 
Bishop Asbury, on horseback. He preached to us and 
there was a revival ; he organized churches. I and many 
others were converted and joined the church. 

"The Methodists began to build churches and school- 
houses and have school. The people prospered. I had 
married and was raising a family. A camp meeting was 
held; there was a gracious revival, the church was won- 
derfully built up and there has been continual prosperity 
until you see what we are today, and the preaching of the 
gospel has brought about all this change. I have accumu- 
lated some property, (he was a rich man) God has blessed 
me both spiritually and temporally and all that I am and 
all that I possess I owe to the Gospel of Christ." 

He took his seat, and the collection was taken, which 
amounted to six hundred dollars, as memory serves me 
now. 



18 Life Sketches. 

CHAPTEK II. 

MY CONVERSION. 

I was born in 1828, the 15th of June in the State of 
South Carolina, and in 1841 I joined the M. E. Church, 
South, and in 1843 at Providence camp grounds in the 
same state, I was converted. It was on this wise. I had 
not committed the grosser sins but I felt and knew that 
without the pardoning mercy of God I would be lost. My 
father and mother were not members of any church. They 
were of Methodist persuasion, were strictly moral and 
would not allow their children to swear; if they did, the 
rule was a whipping. 

At this camp meeting one night (it is as bright in 
my memory now as if it had been yesterday), seekers 
were invited to the altar. I wanted to go there for pray- 
er ; was about to start, the devil whispered in my ear and 
said, "You have no right there, your father and mother 
are not members of the church. Children whose parents 
are members have a right there." The thought kept me 
away from the altar but many went and some of them 
were saved. The altar service continued till late in the 
night. At the last two young ladies were converted and 
shouted and praised God with joy beaaming in their faces. 
A group of men and boys were standing on the opposite 
side of the altar witnessing the scene. I too, walked up 
to the altar and laying my hand on the altar rail feeling 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 19 

sad and dejected I felt that I was trampling on holy 
ground. Aunt Betsy Warnock, a great altar worker, a 
mother in Israel, lived in our neighborhood and was re- 
joicing over and with the saved; she saw me, walked up 
to me and laid her hand upon my head and said, "Buddy, 
doi^t you want religion too ?" Oh there was power in that 
hand; she was filled with the Spirit. I fell right down 
at the altar on my knees and prayed earnestly to the 
Lord to have mercy on me a poor sinner, and there on 
my knees the good Lord pardoned my sins. I remained at 
the altar till some one touched me and said "You had bet- 
ter go to the tent, the people are all leaving the stand.*' 
I rose to my feet ; I felt weak and light and went reeling 
to the tent. I said to myself, this must be religion. I 
thought I would shout when converted but the burden was 
all gone; when I laid dow on my bed that night there 
seemed to be a lovely light shining on me. With the im- 
pression that it was the light of Heaven in that condi- 
tion I dropped to sleep and it was the sweetest nights 
sleep that I ever remembered to have had in my life. 

I bad peace with God; the camp meeting closed, we 
returned home. The next Sunday was the preacher's ap- 
pointment at Target, our church. I went to church and 
felt that I loved everybody. I went in the church, took a 
seat on the front, long bench near the aisle in front of the 
pulpit, so-called in those days. I could look up in the 
preacher's face; the pulpit was a box built in octagonal 
shape nicely panneled, about eight feet high; four feet 
from the church floor was a floor placed in the box for 



20 Life Sketches, 

the preacher to stand on, a door on the side and steps to go 
up into it. The preacher's feet were about on a level with 
the heads of the congregation when he stood up to preach. 

When. Brother Allen McCorqudail was pastor of this 
church, on one occasion while in this pulpit preaching, in 
the discourse he spoke of Barachias who was slain between 
the temple and the altar; he described the Jewish altar 
and wound up by saying that they were not like the altars 
of today; when a preacher stands up in it to preach he 
looks like a crane in a hollow tree. If the reader will 
pardon the digression, we will return to the boy facing 
the preacher feeling humble and unworthy. 

The preacher read his text, divided into heads and 
began to preach. The Holy Ghost fell upon the preacher, 
his face lit up and it seemed to loosen his tongue. The 
preacher had great liberty, my soul was fired with the love 
of God and I came very near shouting right in the face of 
the preacher. I thought to myself, it will never do to dis- 
iurb the preacher and the congregation. I had to restrain 
my feelings; now every shadow of a doubt was dispelled 
of my being converted. 

I was an ignorant boy having no school advantages 
nor religious training. I tried to live a Christian, but T 
found it an up-and-down life. I had a high temper — the 
carnal mind was not destroyed. I prayed and the Spirit 
would bear witness at times; it was a continual warfare, 
till I became completely discouraged arid finally backslid. 
I wanted to be a Christian but I did not know how and 
had no one to tell me. I was in company with an infidel 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 21 

and he said to me. "Do you believe there is any reality 
in religion?" I said I know there is a reality in it for T 
have experienced it. He said, "If I believed as you do 
I would certainly be one." I saidT intend to be one some 
day and if I knew that I never would I would be one of 
the most miserable men in this world. I could not bear 
the thought of being lost in this condition. I was taken 
with a malignant fever and came very near dying; ihe 
fever left me a wreck in health; it affected my nervous 
system; I knew that I was not prepared to die and I 
prayed to the Lord to spare my life and I would try again 
to serve Him. 

I prayed to the Lord to show me how depraved I was. 
1 wanted to know the uttermost of my case, thinking it 
would be an incentive to drive me to Him. He anwered 
my prayers, I felt and saw that I was lost and for eigh- 
teen months I was wretched and miserable. 

The Holy Spirit had done its work. I was deeply 
convicted of sin. I was a novice and I did not know any- 
thing of the nature of conviction. Like many others of 
today I thought mine a peculiar case. When I would 
read the Bible every word seemed to condemn me. 

The church was in a cold state : all help seemed to be 
cut off. I would not tell anyone of my distress for fear I 
would be upbraided. The time appointed for the camp 
meeting at Providence camp ground was drawing near. I 
decided to go and if there was any mercy for me I would 
try to find it. There was no special revival at the meet- 
ing. I put off yielding myself to the Lord from day to 



22 Life Sketches, 

day till the meeting closed. I mounted my horse and 
started home praying as I rode along the road. It was a 
ten mile ride. I prayed till in sight of home. In a beau- 
tiful pine forest, the road all carpeted with yellow straw 
that had fallen from the pines, I got down from my horse 
and knelt down in the road holding my horse's bridle and 
prayed aloud with great earnestness. The next thing I 
knew I was shouting. I was so glad that I was all right 
once more.. I thought I would go home and tell them all 
about it, the devil tempted me to doubt; I placed my foot 
in the stirrup to mount and as I did the Holy Spirit left 
me never to return (was the impression made) and I 
realized the horrors of a lost soul. It made my flesh 
quiver on my body I was so miserable. 

I went home, put my horse up, and went and laid 
down on my bed. I expected to dwindle a few days and 
die and go to hell ; all hope was gone, my health was gone. 
While lying there on my bed thinking I said to myself, 
"Why is it that I cannot be saved ?" "Is it possible that 
I am the worst sinner in the world ?" "Other people can 
be saved and why not I?" and there lying on my bed I 
decided that if I went to hell I would go there praying. 

The decision brought me some comfort. I picked up 
my Bible to read in search of help. I opened where it 
read in the eight chapter in the gospel of John, forty- 
fourth verse where Christ was speaking to the Jews say- 
ing, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your 
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning 
and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 23 

him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for 
he is a liar and the father of it." 

I saw that the devil had led me captive at his will; 
my comfort was only momentary. In reading the Scrip- 
tures my eyes fell on verses 4, 5 and 6 of the 4th chapter 
of Hebrews : "For it is impossible for those who were once 
enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were 
made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the 
good word of God and the powers of the world to come. 
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repent- 
ance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God 
afresh and put Him to an open shame." 

I thought that this was fully my case. I read John 
Wesley on this passage. He said that a man may fall and 
rise again, but falling away meant total apostasy, setting 
aside Christ. I had not done that but the devil had me 
roped up in unbelief leading me on the dark mountains in 
the wilderness of sin. I was tempted to believe there 
was no God, which is Atheism, then Deism, then Univer- 
salism, but common sense taught me better and strange 
to say, in this condition I was impressed that I must 
preach the gospel. I thought it was from the devil only. 
To add to my misery I thought for me to preach was im- 
possible for I was not educated. 

This made me more wretched, if possible, than ever. 
I went out into the silent grove and knelt down to pray, 
I was so miserable. The earth seemed to be crawling 
underneath me to swallow me up. In my prayer I said, 
"Lord I do not wonder that thou didst sweat as it weie, 



24 Life Sketches, 



great drops of blood, running down to the ground for 
my sins." 

I felt and saw that mv sins had nailed Him to the 
cross, as if I had been the only sinner in the world; and 
to add to this the devil told me that I had committed the 
sin .against the Holy Ghost and there was no forgiveness 
in this world neither in the one to come thus adding to 
my despair. I saw nothing but the wrath of a sin-aveng- 
ing God hanging over me. I read John Wesley on this 
passage and he said, "While we believe that Jesus Christ 
is the Savior of the world there is no more danger of com- 
mitting the sin against the Holy Ghost than there is of 
'the sun falling out of the Heavens." But I was still mis- 
erable for I would not consent to preach the gospel which 
was deeply impressed upon me more or less every day. 

How the good Lord did chastise me because I would 
not consent to preach, but I knew it not. I tried to pray 
always. I had spells of conviction that were awful. I 
felt like David did — the heavens above were brass and 
the earth beneath were iron. I had trouble and sorrow. I 
felt like I was not fit to live on the earth. If I went to 
pray, I felt that I was not fit to kneel on God's earth. I 
felt that God would be just in sending me to hell. 

I heard W. B. Thomas, a local preacher, preach a ser- 
mon on repentance. I was comforted during the sermon, 
but, on the way home conviction came upon me in re- 
double force ; it was awful. Despair seemed to be written 
upon the road and everything that I looked upon. I said 
I can stand this no longer; I will have to tell someone 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 25 

my trouble. Up to this time I had not told a soul and I 
did not know that anyone had ever had such spiritual 
trouble a*s I was having. 

I would not tell anyone for fear they would take me to 
be a f oool. I could not weep ; the fountain of tears was 
dried up. When I got home from church the table was 
spread and dinner all ready to set upon it. I sat down 
with the family and tried to eat, but I could not; my 
conviction had taken my appetite. 

J. W. Joyner, a brother-in-law, who had married my 
sister Kachel, and were living happily together, and had a 
pleasant home; both were members of the M. E. Church, 
South, held family prayer, and had come to visit us. I 
decided that I would tell him of my trouble. After din- 
ner I asked him to take a walk with me as I wanted to 
have a talk with him. We walked out through the back- 
yard along a path that led through the field. When a 
little way from the house I said, "What I wanted to say 
to you is, — I feel that I am a great sinner. I am misera- 
ble and feel that if I do not find relief I will die." Here 
I broke down and began to weep. He said to me, "I am 
glad to see you in this fix ; it is the Holy Spirit striving 
with you and all you need is to get religion." 

I thought it was anything but a good fix to be in. Our 
walk had led us to the woods, we sat down at the root of 
a tall long-leaf pine that grew plentifully. He told me 
that I must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I told him that I did not know how to believe; I had 
tried. He then tried to explain faith; he said to me, 



26 Life Sketches, 

"Suppose you were on the top of this tree and there was 
no way to get down but to jump, there being provision 
made down here to catch you and you knew that you 
would be caught ; would you jump ? If you could jump, 
relying on the provision made, that would be faith." 

He then said, "A father stands his son on a table, 
steps off a pace and says to his child, c Jump into father's 
arms and I will catch you/ The child having the utmost 
confidence in the father makes the leap and is safely 
caught in the father's arms. That child had faith in its 
father, so you must have faith in God and risk your all 
upon Him. " 

I thought the illustrations were beautiful but could 
not believe. I had not given up the world. I had been 
making money and had bright prospects before me of be- 
ing a rich man, but my hopes were all blasted; complete 
severance had come into my life, my health was gone, I 
was like a beautiful ship at sea, with her sails unfunled tc 
the breeze and a storm strikes her and drives hard and 
dry on the beach, scorched in the sun. All this wa? a 
blessing in disguise ; the good Lord was preparing me for 
my life's work and I knew him not, but I was still mis- 
erable. I went to spend some time with my brother-in- 
law ; it was very pleasant to be with my sister. I thought 
a change of surroundings would be beneficial. I prayed 
often, I took my Bible and went to the woods and read it 
upon my knees and asked God to give me light upon it. 
I received light but was not yet saved. I said why is it 
that others are saved and I am not? I decided that I 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 27 

would give up all, everything, to be saved. Now I had 
just got to the place where the Lord Jesus Christ could 
save me. I walked into my brother's work shop where he 
was at work and I eat down upon a sawbench meditating, 
when the blessing came. A heavenly calm came over me ; 
it was my acceptance with God; He owned me as his 
child. I said to my brother that I was saved. He said 
that he was very glad. I decided then and there, that by 
the grace of God, I was going to make sure work for the 
kingdom of Heaven. I had enough of backsliding. I 
said, "No more, No more, No more, my 'Lord, Fll never 
turn back any more." The blessing did not come as I 
expected; it came not in the power but like the still, email 
voice. I was not fully satisfied; I wanted a brighter evi- 
dence, but I was thankful for what I had. I was happy 
in my new found calm; I felt that a great storm had 
passed and I was in the calm. I know there is a hell and 
I am a brand snatched from the burning. I know there 
is a personal devil as a roaring lion seeking whom he 
may devour. 

There is a Heaven where God is and the Lord Jesus 
Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father interced- 
ing for us. While thus musing, a vision comes before my 
mind. I saw one of the pearly gates of Heaven ; the scene 
was beautiful to behold. I picked up my Bible to read, 
opened at Revelations twenty-first chapter and read what 
John saw in the New Jerusalem; the gates of pearl and 
the streets of the city were paved with gold. There is no 
night there; sin cannot enter there; all will do well to 



28 Life Sketches, 

read and ponder who have decided to live right and go 
there. The Spirit now bears witness that I was adopted 
and was his child. Like the prodigal I had just reached 
home. I said this is the same feeling I had when I was 
first converted. God had not forsaken me, but I had left 
him and wandered into the world and into sin but the 
Holy Spirit went after me and -led me back. How good 
the Lord is ! It is the goodness of the Lord that leadeth 
man to repentance. 

Now another trouble came ; it was made plain that I 
must preach the gospel. How can I preach the gospel ? T 
am not educated ; my father was not able to give me an 
education; my schooling had been little. I was sent to 
Sunday school and the teacher gave me a Sunday school 
primer; in it I learned to spell and read at home. I 
learned to write by having boys that were going to ecaool 
write the alphabet for me with a broom straw in the road 
and in the yard when they would come to visit me. In 
this way I learned the letters and learned to write at 
home ; there seemed to have been born in me a desire to be 
something in the world. 

All the spare time that I could get from my work on 
the farm I was trying to read and write; in this way I 
grew up. How could I preach ? To all human appearance 
it was impossible. 

A preacher had never come out of my generation. I 
could not preach. This led me into darkness; because of 
disobedience I was a Jonah and oh how the good Lord did 
chastise me. I felt that I was hair-hung and breeze- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 29 

shaken over an awful hell. The pains of hell got hold on 
me. I felt that woe was me if I preach not the gospel. I 
saw that I would have to preach or give up my religion 
and be lost. 

Then came the struggle to get my consent to preach. 
I had decided never to give up the struggle; I had en- 
listed for the war. I decided to visit my relatives, an 
uncle that lived sixty miles away. My uncle had not seen 
me since a child but he knew me by the family mark (the 
face). My uncle asked me to visit Mr. Kellar, an old 
friend of our family ; I did so. I told him that I was in 
search of health ; he invited me to spend the summer with 
him; he was a member of the Lutheran Church and there 
was a ehurch in the neighborhood and a Lutheran revival 
meeting in progress. I attended the meeting; souls were 
being converted, bright and clear. I knew that it was no 
use for me to go to the altar or take any part unless I 
would consent to preach the gospel. The meeting closed 
and that night at Mr. Kellar^s I was lighted to the third 
story in the building. I entered the room feeling a bur- 
den intolerable to be borne ; it was a sultry night in July ; 
the katy-dids were singing outside in the trees and every- 
thing seemed to be in harmony with God but me. I de- 
cided that I would make a final decision that night or I 
would pray all night. I blew out the light to prevent 
attracting any attention and fell upon my knees and com- 
menced praying ; there I wrestled with God till midnight, 
when despair possessed me and a cloud as dark as pitch 
seemed to settle down upon me, and an angel came down 



30 Life Sketches, 

through the cloud and slapped me on the thigh and said 
"peace, be still/' and all was bright. 

My soul was all light as if the room had been lighted 
up; my burden was all gone and the darkness from my 
soul. I said to myself, "The good Lord has not given me 
up or He would not have sent an angel unto me and this 
blessing." 

Now I could reason on the subject. I said the Lord 
will not call a man to a work that he will not prepare 
him, so I will preach the gospel: I will consecrate my- 
self, my all to Him, and where he leads me I will follow. 

Now the way began to loom up before me. I was a 
carpenter by trade. I could work and save some money 
and then go to school. The Bible was now an un-sealed 
book; the Spirit gave me light on the scriptures. I had 
emerged out of nature's darkness into the marvelous light 
and liberty of the children of God. My spiritual eyes 
were opened; I could see sin as with the natural eye and 
the light was so clear I did not see why all did not see 
it. I loved everybody, both saint and sinner. What a 
happy change. 

I rode on the sky, fully justified was I ; nor did I envy 
Elijah his seat. I could not believe that I should ever 
grieve or suffer again. 

I passed the rest of the night rejoicing and planning 
for the future. The next morning when we eat down to 
the breakfast table, Mr. Kellar looked at me and said, 
"Something has surely happened; you had just as well 
out with it. Did you ever see such a change in & coun- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 31 

tenance?" I wanted to tell him that I was called to 
preach the gospel, but I felt that if I opened my lips I 
would shout to the extent of my voice. As I did not 
want to shock the family I held my lips till I could con- 
trol my feelings. Then I told them that I had experienced 
a wonderful change. That morning I bade the family 
good-bye with many thanks for their kindness. I moun- 
ted my horse and started for home; all nature seemed to 
rejoice; the birds as they warbled their songs in the trees 
by the roadside, seemed to be praising their Creator. 

Up to this time I had not told a living soul my im- 
pressions to preach the gospel; now I would have to tell 
some one. I reached home and went to see W. B. Thom- 
as and told him that I was called to preach the gospel 
and I have come to vou to get advice. 

He advised me to apply for a license to exhort; that 
it was the starting point to those looking forward to the 
ministry. He said I will intercede for you; I will see 
W. P. Mazon, the preacher in charge, and on his next 
round your application can be brought before the church. 

Brother Mazon came to his appointment, preached his 
sermon and at the close he said after the congregation is 
dismissed, the members of the church will please remain, 
I have some business to bring before the church. The 
members remained. Brother Mazon said, "The business 
that I have to bring before you is this: Jeremiah East 
has applied for license to exhort. There was an aston- 
ished church ; they had never had the least intimation of 
it. There sat my brother and sisters, relatives, associates 



32 Life Sketches, 

and friends; they would have as soon looked for a clap of 
thunder out of a clear sky. I had grown up among them 
an uneducated youth. AH eyes were set upon me. I felt 
that I was the least of all God's children. The preacher 
said "It becomes my duty to ask you some questions. "Do 
you feel that God for Christ's sake has pardoned your 
sins?" I answered "I do." Then the preacher asked 
"How long have you been thinking of preaching?" I said 
"for some time." "Have you fully considered the mat- 
ter ?" I answered "I have." "Do you know that if this 
church in their godly judgment were to decide that you 
were not a fit subject to receive a license to exhort that 
they can refuse to grant you a license and do you no 
wrong ?" I had consecrated all to God and I could do no 
more. The church recommended me and I received li- 
cense to exhort on December the fifteenth, 1853. 

I decided to take up the cross and do the beet I could, 
I asked my father's and mother's permission to hold fam- 
ily prayers; it was granted. It was a great cross but it 
proved a blessing. 

Now I set out to work for an education and all my 
spare time was spent in reading religious books. I read 
Baxter's "Call to the Unconverted/' Baxter's "Saints 
Best/' Bunyan's "Pilgrims Progress" and Mr. Fletcher on 
"Santification." In reading this book I saw my need of 
a eclan heart. I saw the need of a deeper work of grace 
in my heart. 

I was living the up-and-down life and was not satis- 
fied with my experience though I had a good case of re- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 33 

generation. The Spirit bore witness with my spirit every 
day. I was in a clear justified state. I wanted all the re- 
ligion that it was my privilege to enjoy. I wanted vic- 
tory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. I saw it as 
a growth in grace. By watching and praying I did ad- 
vance towards the prize, but it did not bring the victory ; 
I found it a continual warfare within, a hard fight to keep 
from going back, but I had set out with a full determin- 
ation to seek the blessing of sanctification till I obtained 
it. I was willing to learn but I had no one to teach me, 
I had not heard a sermon on the subject since a boy. The 
preachers did not preach it, much less seek the blessing, 
obtain it, profess it and live it. 

I always thought that sanctification was for all the 
preachers, but when I read Mr. Fletcher's book I saw that 
it was for all who would consecrate all to God and re- 
ceive it by faith. I became more determined to have the 
blessing, cost what it might. The devil told me that I 
was too young to receive the blessing and if I did re- 
ceive it I could not keep it. 

Sin died hard; at times when in earnest prayer the 
blessing would come very near but from some cause my 
soul would draw back. While seeking the blessing I was 
working to get an education ; being a carpenter by trade, 
the use of my tools was my chance to pay for my school- 
ing. I had one consolation my Saviour was a carpenter. 

My brother-in-law, who was such a help to me in lead- 
ing me to Christ, now bitterly opposed my preaching the 
gospel saying that if I attempted it I would disgrace the 



34 Life Sketches, 

family. He said no man ought to preach without a col- 
lege education. 

My brother .also opposed me, but the Lord raised me up 
a friend in Mr. B. Hart whose father was a wealthy far- 
mer living in the community; he sent hie son to school 
to Cokesbury in Abbeville, S. C, where he married. He 
purchased a home in the town, and when he moved he 
invited me to go with him; he said he would assist me all 
he could and I would have the advantage of a good 
schooling. 

I went with him to Cokesbury; in that up country 
my health improved. There were buildings going up in 
the town and I hired myself to a foreman of a building 
as a journeyman workman ; the foreman put me to tongue 
and grooving flooring boards, (this was in the year of 1853 
there were no planing mills in those days,) it all had to 
be done by hand; one plane cut the tongue on the board 
and the other the groove, in this way they were matched 
into flooring. 

I was shoving my plane and praying and desiring above 
all things else the blessing of sanctification. I had sought 
the blessing for twelve months with the light that I could 
gain from books; I had consecrated my all to God and I 
had the assurances that the blessing was for me. It oc- 
curred to me as clear as if .a 'human voice had spoken, 
"What are you doing? Are you not seeking a blessing 
that it is the will of God you should have? God is not 
confined to time nor place, but will do the work right 
now and here as well as anywhere." I saw the point. I 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 35 

threw down my plane upon the work bench, lifted my 
heart to God in faith and the blessing came. I was fil- 
led, soul and body, from the top of my head to the soles 
of my feet. I was saved from all sin. I jumped, I leap- 
ed, I shouted the praises of God. 

The foreman heard me, came round and asked me 
what was the matter? I told him that I was sanctified. 
He said he believed it, and said he wished more of them 
would get it. 

I told my experience to Brother Thompson and Broth- 
er Nelson, two young men going to school in Cokesbury 
preparing for .the ministry; tthey had different views on 
the subject. Brother Thompson did not believe we could 
be sanctified till we came to die. Brother Nelson said 
when a man is sanctified he is no longer fit to live in this 
world but to die and go to Heaven. 

I said if it prepares for death it must be a good thing. 
I said no more to them but decided that I would try to 
keep what I had and get all I could. 

A preacher travelling through Cokesbury stopped and 
preached a sermon on the subject of sanctification, told 
his experience and it was in accord with mine. He 
was the only one that I had met that had my experience. 
It was a feast to my soul. I was confirmed in the faith 
and how I did long to meet with some one to talk with 
that enjoyed the blessing of sanctification but I found 
none. 

I decided that I would still try to grow in grace and I 
found that I had just got to where I could grow in grace. 



36 Life Sketches, 

I had just found standing ground. How can one go for- 
ward without a foundation to stand upon? I then grew 
from strength to strength through watching, fasting and 
praying till for days and weeks and months I walked and 
lived in the sunshine of God's love. To think of God and 
his goodness was a continual feast to my soul. 

At times I have blessed God that I was ever born to 
enjoy such blessings. I could but wonder at the good- 
ness of God and what He had done for a poor sinner like 
me, but the more I wondered at His grace the more of 
the cleansing power I felt. My soul was sanctified 
though I was tried to the utmost; the devil thrust hard 
at me but the temptations were all outside. I had power 
to resist them. I had victory over the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, free to stand but liable to fall. 

Now I had been to the two extremes, from the worst 
sinner and almost in hell, for so I felt I was, to the 
height of holiness. It seemed to me that I could almost 
hear the angels sing. I was now prepared to witness to 
what the good Lord could do for a poor sinner in this 
world, but the members of the church and some of the 
preachers could not understand it; they could not see 
any cause for such exultation. 

I thought that I could understand them. I saw what 
they needed. They could not understand me and they 
taunted me by saying an empty wagon made more racket 
than a loaded one, and when I come to consider the com- 
parison, it was a good one. In this case the soul is com- 
pared to an empty wagon when drawn by horses on a 



Sirfihing Incidents and Sermon. 37 

rough road at an ordinary speed. On a still evening the 
empty wagon can be heard a mile away; like the soul 
when sanctified and cleansed from all sin and emptied 
of its burdens they make a racket. 

They will testify on all proper occasions, they will pray 
when called on and are as ready for good words and work 
and will kneel down by a poor sinner and pray with and 
for him till he is saved; they will pray for and with a 
converted soul that is hungering and thirsting after 
righteousness till it is filled and then shout with them 
till they are hoarse. Some of them are always praising 
God for what He has done for them; they remind me 
of a racket machine. 

Now we see a loaded wagon ; the soul loaded down with 
carnality and sin travelling on this road, they are carry- 
ing heavy burdens, some of them are spiritually dumb; 
they will not testify nor pray when called on; they will 
tell you I am no enthusiast, I do not believe in so much 
noise; I pay my preacher to do my preaching and praying. 
They believe in festivals and enter heartily into world- 
ly amusements in the church and they know that the 
church could not get along without them. Jesus invites 
you saying, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden and I will give you rest." Best from the 
guilt of sin by justification, and from the power of sin 
by sanctification. 

Lord, I believe were sinners more, 

Than sands upon the ocean shore 1 ; 

Thou hast for all a ransom paid, 

For all a full atonement made. 



38 Life Sketches, 

CHAPTER III 

ENTERED SCHOOL AT COKEBBURY, S. C. 

I entered the school at Cokesbury as a beneficiary pre- 
paring for the ministry. I now felt a great desire to see 
sinners awakened and souls converted. I prayed to that 
end and the Lord fulfilled my desire. A revival meet- 
ing was held and a number of students were converted. 
Wescoat, a boy of eleven years, was powerfully converted. 
He would walk up and down -the aisle of the church and 
slap his little hands shouting with perfect freedom, run- 
ning into the arms of many, embracing them and exhor- 
ting them to seek the Saviour. The audience was greatly 
moved at the scene. 

I was led to speak to individuals about their souFs wel- 
fare, on proper occasions. Mr. Chaney, a carpenter by 
trade, was employed by Mr. Hart to do some carpenter 
work wihere I was boarding. I walked out to his work 
bench and entered into conversation with him. I asked 
him if he was a member of any -church ; he answered me 
roughly saying, "No, I am not and you come out here 
preaching to me; if that's what you have come out here 
for, you get away; I will not hear it." I said to him, 
"I am a carpenter and I like to look at a man use tools." 
He said, "It is no use to preach to a lost sinner. I have 
read the Bible and know a little about it." He was dis- 
posed to argue on scripture. I told him that I did not 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 39 

wish to argue. He said, "I want to ask you a question. 
Do you believe that a man can be soundly converted then 
backslide, lead a sinful life, and then again be reclaimed 
and saved ?" I said "Yes. I not only believe it I know 
it. I was soundly converted, backslid, lost the joy for a 
time and I have been reclaimed, enjoying the same peace 
that I once enjoyed and more, I am sanctified, cleansed 
from all sin/ 5 He said. "I differ with you ; it is contrary 
to scripture. How do you explain Hebrews sixth chap- 
ter, fourth, fifth, and sixth verses ? c For it is impossible 
for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of 
the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Hoiy 
Ghost and have tasted] the good word of God and the 
powers of the world to come, if they Should fall away to 
renew again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to them- 
selves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open 
shame/ " 

I said to him that falling away did not mean 
backsliding. We may fall and rise again, but 
falling away means total apostasy, rejecting Christ 
the only way of salvation. Acts 4:12. "Neither 
is there salvation in any other, for there is none 
other name under Heaven given among men where- 
by we must be saved." Peter denied his Lord and cur- 
sed and swore saying, "I know not the man," and he was 
reclaimed. God said "I am married to the backslider. 
He said "I have asked a number of preachers and mem- 
bers of different churches the meaning of the passage of 
scripture and you are the first one that has ever given 



40 Life Sketches, 

me any light upon it or given me any encouragement/' 
I said to him "There is not anything like trying. God 
said, 'Try me and prove me/ " He said "I am going to 
try; there is a Baptist Union meeting to be held next 
week and I am going to it and if there is any salvation 
for me I intend to have it." He took my hand and asked 
me to pray for him. I promised to do so. 

We parted, two weeks had passed ; on Sunday morning 
the bell rang for church, I went, found I was early. 
Standing near the church, talking with a fellow student, 
Mr. Chaney walked up, gave me a hearty handshake and 
said to me, "I want to have a talk with you." We walk- 
ed off a little way back of the church and sat down in a 
saw mill. He said to me, "You remember our conversa- 
tion at the work bench yesterday, two weeks ago?" T 
said, "I remember it very well." He said "I went to the 
meeting as I told you I was going to, I sought the Lord 
earnestly and He has pardoned my sins. I want to tell 
you a little of my past experience." 

"Twenty years ago in a meeting I was soundly con- 
verted; my sins were pardoned, I was a changed man, 
I joined the Baptist Church and the day w^as appointed 
for me to be baptized. I was on my way to the pool; 
meeting two of my old associates I turned and went with 
them to the grogshop and got drunk. I was a happy man 
until I started to that grogshop then my peace left me 
and I was miserable. 

"I felt like I was going to he'll alive, I was led to be- 
lieve that I had fallen away and there was no more re- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 41 

pentance for me. Xo one knows how wretched I have 
been since that day. I have been a bad drunkard. I 
have made money but the most of it went for drink. My 
wife and children have suffered not only for want of 
food and clothing, but from the dread of a drunken hus- 
band. 

"I have moved from place to place; have been too 
wretched to stay in one place long at a time, but the good 
Lord has pardoned my sins. I now am a changed man 
and this morning my wife is the happiest woman on 
earth, the children are glad and we have family prayer 
night and morning. We are a happy family and you 
have been the means of bringing all this about." 

Eeader are you a backslider? if so, like Mr. Chaney 
vou can be saved if vou return to the Lord. 



4:2 Life Sketches, 

CHAPTER IV 

MOVED TO FLORIDA. 

In 1857 my father moved from South Carolina, 
Charlestown District, to Marion County Florida and set- 
tled at Orange Springs. At the fourth quarterly con- 
ference on Marion Circuit, I was licensed to preach the 
gospel. I was recommended to the Florida annual con- 
ference for admission on trial. When the conference 
convened I was admitted on trial and appointed to Cedar 
Keys Mission. 

In 1858 after some necessary preparations, saddlebags 
packed with some clothing and my books, Mr. Fletcher on 
"Sanctiftcation," Fletcher's "Appeal to Matter of Fact," 
Bible and my Hymn Book, I mounted Charlie my faith- 
ful horse, and started to my work. 

I was directed to Eev. John Penny, who lived on my 
route at Shell Pond to get a plan of the mission. 

When I arrived at his place ihe was not at home; I 
was minded to go on but Mrs. Penny iasked me to get 
down and stay until Mr. Penny returned, telling me I 
had a wild portion of country to travel through. I de- 
cided to stop until the next day, it being in the after- 
noon. 

The family consisted of three. I soon saw that they 
wished to make my stay as pleasant as possible. Mrs. 
Penny asked me if I would like to see the cave; it is not 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 43 

far and is a great wonder. I consented and a walk of 
less than a balf mile brought ns to the cave. At the end 
of a little pond rose a great hill ; in the hill was the cave. 
Each one prepared with a torch entered. The entrance 
was so low that we had to crawl in on our hands and 
knees; once inside we could stand erect on a level floor 
of clean, white lime rock. The floor averaged about seven 
feet in width; the walls were like the floor, clean and 
white, leaning gradually in on both sides till they met 
above making a complete arch. Our torches shining on 
the white rock we could see everything as clear as day. 

With Mrs. Penny as guide, we walked along viewing 
the scenery; the walls were carved by nature's hand in 
almost every conceivable shape. Walking along the arch, 
we found two arches crossing the one we were in of sim- 
ilar shape ; about fifteen yards from the entrance of the 
cave we came to where our guide said, "This is the par- 
lor." It seemed that the walls had been scooped out on 
both sides of the arch ; that left a larger space and right 
in the centre of the parlor was a chandelier. It was rock 
extending down in the centre about two feet in rod shape, 
about three inches in diameter with arms extending out 
at right angles with knobs on each end in place of lamps. 

Mlns. Penny expressed a wish to explore further. I 
said to her, "There is danger of coming in contact with 
gas going so far under the earth." We walked on about 
thirty yards from the caves mouth, Mrs. Penny's torch 
went out as if it had been stuck into water, and her sis- 
ter's torch just behind her began to pop and went out. 



44 Life Sketches, 

My torch began to burn dim; we had come in contact 
with gas. 

We made a quick retreat as breathing had become diffi- 
cult. I noticed that a light would not shine in the gas ; 
all ahead was darkness ; if we had gone one step further 
we would have been in total darkness. We came out and 
when I saw that we were all safe I stood straight and 
drew a long breath and was thankful that I was on the 
earth once more and not in it. 

The next day being directed by Mr. F. McDonnell, I 
started on the road to Leavyville, the county seat of Levy 
County, better known as Sodom, so called on account of 
the wickedness of the place. It was twenty miles through 
the sand hills ; not a house in the distance and was a dull 
lonely road, but I had the sweet assurance that my Sa- 
viour was with me. "Lo, I am with you always, even 
unto the end of the world." 

Traveling this road a few miles, a thunder storm pas- 
sed over; throwing my blanket over me, which had a hole 
in the middle, I could put my head through by taking 
off my hat. It hung down all round me and protected 
me from the weather. 

I rode Charlie out into an open place and we stood the 
storm ; it was soon over. Travelling along this dim road, 
fearing I would lose my way, I looked off to my right and 
saw three fine deer. They seemed to be trying to see 
which one could jump the highest; they would take a few 
jumps and then come back and jump high coming down 
upon their front feet near one spot. I have been told 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 45 

by old hunters that they killed rattlesnakes in this way 
cutting them with their sharp hoofs till they killed them. 
Watching them awhile I rode on ; thev saw me and went 
leaping over the hills. It was a beautiful scene. 

I arrived at the county seat of Levy County, stopped 
at Mrs. Andrews; like Lydia of old, her house was the 
home of the preacher. Having no plan of the mission, 
I started to find the appointments as best I could. I 
learned that the first appointment was at Mr. Sykes, near 
the Swanee Eiver. It was eleven miles to the settlement 
but I found a dim trail leading through a pine forest and 
not a house in the distance, but the scenery was grand. 

The long leaf pines towering above the head and the 
ground covered with green wire grass. In the month 
of January, herds of fat cattle fed. on it. I rode up to 
Mr. Sikes where a young man was splitting rails a lit- 
tle way from the house, I said, "'does Mr. Sikes live 
here?''' He said "Yes" and eyed me close. He said 
" Are you a soldier ?" 

"Yes I am a soldier of the cross; a Methodist Min- 
ister sent to Cedar Keys Mission." 

He said ''Yes, I heard them speak of you at the 
house; they are looking for you, so get down." 

I asked him where the church was, as I expected to 
find a church to preach in. He said "This is the place." 

I got down off my horse, sat down on a log and talked 
with him asking if he was a member of any church. 

He said he was not. I told him it was best to start 
while voun.cr an( j aire all of our lives to the Saviour then 



46 Life Sketches, 

if we live to be old we can look back upon a life well 
spent. 

It is so much better than to give all our manhood to 
the service of the devil and then give the latter end of 
life to the Lord. He acknowledged the wisdom of so 
doing. He said "I will take care of your horse." 

He took him and rode off but brought him back the 
next day. 

There was no house owned by the mission and we had 
to preach in vacant houses fitted up for the purpose, and 
at family residences. Mr. Sykes' dwelling was a house 
with one room; they used it for bed room, dining room, 
and kitchen and preaching. The preaching days were on 
Friday j six souls came to hear the preacher. They said 
to me "You may as well have the service, for the people 
are all here that live in the settlement." 

I went in, sat down on a trunk by the fire place; the 
dinner had already been prepared and set by the fire to 
keep warm. 

I began the service; had to do all the singing. It was 
a great cross to the new beginner, it being my first ser- 
mon. 

I read the text "Come unto me all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden and I will give you rest!" 

I tried to preach but I felt that it was poor preaching ; 
a very poor return for the fine entertainment that I had 
received from the people. At the close of the service the 
young man that I had conversed with the day before, 
came forward and joined the church. This gave me sol- 
ace. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 47 

My next point was Clay Landing, on the Suwanee 
Kiver, then to Dannels Fort, then to Cow Pen Seat, the 
services being similar. By this time I had become dis- 
couraged. I could not see what good I could do the work 
feeling sad and alone. 

I rode up to a little old house in the woods; Mr. Og- 
ilsby lived there; he came and met me. He was an old 
man seventy-three years old, head and beard perfectly 
white. Looking up at me through his spectacles he said, 
"I believe this is the young preacher." I said "Yes," 
and he grasped my hand with a hearty God-bless you, 
saying "the good Lord has sent you here ; he sends me a 
young preacher every year away down here in this wild 
country. Get down and come in; I want to tell you all 
about the work and the people that you will have to 
preach to." 

My despondency disappeared like a cloud; he gave me 
all the help that I needed. I learned from him that it 
was difficult for the preacher to get to Cedar Keys as it 
was six miles to number four then six miles by water and 
by rowboat to Cedar Keys. 

The cars were not running to the Keys yet, the road 
was then being graded. Through the kindness of the 
mail carrier, carrying mail from Micanopy to Cedar Keys 
on horse back to number four, and from there to the 
Keys in a row boat, he invited me to go over with him. 
In this way I got to the appointment. 

On another occasion I met with the mail carrier at 
Cow Pen Seat; he agreed to lead my horse back on his 
return to Cow Pen Seat where he could be cared for. 



48 Life Sketches, 

We rode off together; a man overtook us that wanted 
to go with us in the boat; a few miles and another joined 
us, and when we arrived at the landing there were six 
men to go in the little boat. It was loaded to its utmost 
capacity; we had hitched our, horses found the tide just 
right and went over to the Keys. 

The mail carrier was to deliver the mail and come 
back on the return tide, but they found something strong- 
er to drink than water and they got the young men to 
drinking, the tide left them and they did not get back 
until the next day. 

Our horses stood hitched from nine o'clock Saturday 
till eleven o'clock Sunday, without food or water. The 
mail carrier's mule got his hind foot over the rope, threw 
himself and broke his neck. He found him lying dead 
at the root of a tree. Brother Points related to me a pre- 
dicament that he got into in 1857 serving this mission. 

In going to one of his appointments to the Key, to 
shorten the distance to the landing, the county built a 
road through the marsh between Martins Island and the 
main land. 

The road was built by laying down palmetto logs and 
marsh mud thrown upon them and left to dry. 

Brother Points accompanied by Brother Ogilsby, who 
was always ready to aid the preacher in any way, said 
to me, "We decided to walk over on the road to the land- 
ing." A crust had dried that bore us up about half way 
across the marsh when it broke and down we went into 
the marsh mud and every effort to get out only sent us 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 49 

deeper and we saw that the only way to get out was to 
lay down and roll out. 

A stiff breeze was blowing and blew my hat where I 
could not get it. I came out bare headed with all the 
marsh mud that could stick to me. I had to go six miles 
back to Cow Pen Seat and miss the appointment. We 
saw the work of the Lord prospering in our hands; a 
house of worship was built at Cedar Keys. 

We had a demonstration of the power of God. Sister 
Worthingtom, a member of our church, had been sick 
for some time and was not expected to live requested that 
services be held at her house for her benefit. 

We met and held prayer service; the Holy Spirit came 
down, Brother Worthingtom was reclaimed and she was 
baptized with the Holy Ghost; strength was imparted to 
her ; she rose, sat up in her bed and shouted for joy, slap- 
ping her emaciated hands till they were blistered. Her 
face shone as if it had been the face of an angel. She 
said, "I feel well." 

It was the turning point ; she improved from that hour. 
I believe she was healed though it was not claimed as 
such, and I have not the least doubt that men and women 
have been healed in answer to a fervent believing prayer. 
Though not claimed as such I know of several incidents 
of the kind. At Providence camp ground in South Caro- 
lina, Mrs. C. — i — was taken with a burning fever, her 
oversight was greatly needed in her tent as she was enter- 
taining friends. The fever continued for three days. 
W. B. Thomas, a local preacher, felt moved to prayer 



50 Life Sketches, 

for her recovery. Gathering a faithful few he went to her 
bedside read the fifth chapter of James. I was a young 
exhorter; standing outside while the chapter was being 
read, when they knelt for prayers I stepped inside and 
fell upon my knees and prayed to myself that the Lord 
would heal her, and that the prayers that were being 
offered would be answered. 

Brother Thomas prayed with great power; during the 
prayer she was baptized with the Holy Ghost ; she shout- 
ed for joy with all her ransom powers. After awhile she 
began to talk as follows: "I am well; this blessing has 
cooled my fever." She arose, dressed herself, went to her 
work and was well. 

Cedar Keys Mission comprised all of Levy county, part 
of Alachua and part of Marion county. I had to do some 
unnecessary traveling for lack of roads. I asked Mr. 
Bryant, living at Fort Fanning if there was a road lead- 
ing down the Suwanee River; he isaid there was a trail 
made by the government wagons during the Indian war. 
I asked him if it was traveled? He said sometimes men 
traveled it that knew the country. 

After making inquiries from others, I decided to try. 
I said to Mr. Bryant, if you will show me the trail I will 
try it. He tried to persuade me not to go, saying, "It is 
fifteen miles to Mr. Martin's plantation; the 'first house 
after you leave here and fifteen miles from there to Cow 
Pen Seat; the river will be on your right, but off to 
your left there is no one living and if you get lost you 
will never be found ; you must not leave the river. The 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 51 

trail leads right down it. You must follow the old 
blazes on the trees; they are all grown over but you can 
see the marks on them; you had better not try it" 

He then showed me the trail. I shook his hand and 
said, "good-bye." 

He said, "I never expect to see you any more." His 
last words impressed me and. put me on my guard. The 
trail was difficult to follow, I lost it several times and had 
to search to find it. 

It led through branches and swamps all grown up in 
trees, bushes and vines ; in some places in the swamps the 
stumps of the trees that had been 'cut away to make the 
road, were all I had to guide me. 

I arrived at Mr. Martin's plantation safe, met Mr. 
Hardee, his business manager; there were thirty labor- 
ers on the farm and he told me that he supplied them 
with meat by killing deer and never went hunting. He 
said, "I carry my rifle on my shoulder everywhere I go, 
looking after the business and when I see a deer I shoot 
it down, stick it, and have a man take it in and dress it. 
In this way I supply them with meat and the hides of 
the deer that I killed here in one year netted me fifty 
dollars ; there is plenty of deer and bear here.' , 

After I passed Mr. Martin's place the roads were not 
so difficult to follow; it showed some travel by this road. 
I saw large patches of blue huckleberries, bear eating the 
berries and rolled over the bushes till they looked like 
logs had been rolled over them. The cubs climbed the 
sapplings in their play splitting the bark of the limb with 



52 Life Sketches, 

their nails. I did not see any; it not being feed time 
with them. 

I arrived at Cow Pen Seat safe and sound. I made 
my home with the people and found them very kind and 
hospitable but I found many homes where it was diffi- 
cult to get supplies; for the want of transportaticm, corn 
could not be had as the railroad was not completed. 

The people belled their horses at night and turned 
them out in the woods to graze, hunting them up in the 
morning. 

Mr. P one morning heard his pony running home 

squealing; stepping to the door, he saw a panther on his 
back. Taking his rifle from the rack he stepped out 
and as the pony ran up he levelled, took aim, and fired. 
The panther fell dead with a bullet hole through and 
through. I did not witness the above but saw the scar oil 
the pony's back where the panther had bitten him. Sev- 
eral of these animals have been killed here, some of them 
measuring nine feet from nose to tail; the tail is near 
one-third the length of the body. 

On a round to the appointments on the Cedar Keys 
Mission, travelling a dim road near the Wakasessee off 
the right of the road about twenty feet, I conceived I was 
passing a butt of an old oak log whose top had aii been 
burned off by forest fires from year to year and the hand 
of time had worn it away, leaving bits of rotten wood 
stuck about on it. Imagine my surprisse just as I got 
opposite this old oak chunk, it began rising from the 
ground, as if it had a jack screw under it, jawing it from 



Sticking Incidents and Sermon. 53 

the ground and something blowing out of one end of it 
like a heavy blacksmith's bellows; it was a large alli- 
gator. I had got too close to him ; he was blowing at me. 
I rode my horse away from him to what I conceived to 
be a safe distance and sized him up with my eyes. I 
have a fair idea of measurement, being a carpenter; his 
body in the center was as large as a common flour barrel ; 
his length I judged to be eighteen feet long. When I 
would move towards him he would rise up on his legs 
and blow at me. If I could have captured him he would 
have been a prize, but I was eight miles away from a 
dwelling. 

Another incident that occurred on this work in 1858. 
Levy County being made of settlements and some far 
between made school inconvenient for some. Three 
scholars were made to walk eight miles to school; 
they would start Sunday afternoon and walk to the set- 
tlement, attend school during the week and walk back 
Friday afternoon. The railroad was then being graded 
to Cedar Keys. Their road ran parallel with the railroad. 
On Friday they decided to walk on the embankment; 
there had not been a cross tie or a bar of iron laid on 
this part of the road, yet one of the party, a young lad, 
had taken his gun along and ammunition as a protection 
against varmints, should they be attacked walking along 
the embankment. A little to the left they saw a black 
bear pulling palmettos. The bear like a hog, will pull 
out the buds of a palmetto. The end that comes out of 
the stock is tender and sweet and they eat it. This lad 
took advantage of the embankment and slipped upon the 



54 Life Sketches, 

bear, shot and killed him, dragged him across the em- 
bankment. When they arrived at home they said to their 
father and mother, "We killed a bear and dragged him 
across the railroad. We have laid down a crosstie; so the 
first crosstie laid on the railroad opposite the Gulf Ham- 
mock was a Black Bear. 

My year's work came to a close and I received in sal- 
ary, all-told, ninety-five dollars. 

The conference was held in Jacksonville, Florida, 
Bishop J. 0. Andrews, presiding. There was a revival at 
the conference and a few souls were converted. 

Brother Duncan, a member of the Florida conference, 
enjoyed the blessing of sanctification and preached it, and 
at an afternoon service he said that entire consecration 
and sanctification would make the ministry more suc- 
cessful in winning souls to Christ. 

He made a proposition that if there was in the audi- 
ence any one that did have the experience, to testify. 

I felt like getting right up and testifying, but the 
devil whispered in my ear and said, 'TTou need not make 
a fool of yourself ; you are too young and uneducated and 
will do the cause more harm than good. Look over the 
congregation and see the old ministers of experience and 
learning. Let them speak on the subject." 

I looked around to see and there sat the ministers, 
some gray-headed fathers. I expected to hear from them 
but no one said a word. 

I waited till the opportunity closed and did not testify, 
but I smarted, for I felt that I ought to have testified 
to the work done in me. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 55 



CHAPTEE V. 
ST. maet's mission. 

In 1859 I was appointed to serve the Saint Mary's 
Kiver Mission in Charlton County, Georgia. The South 
Georgia was then included in the Florida Conference. 

The work was in the big bend of the St. Mary's Eiver ; 
there was no organization, but I found a few Methodist 
families. 

To begin with, a large majority of the people were 
Baptists of a hard type ; they preferred to be called hard- 
shell. They had a church but very seldom had preaching. 

The preacher and deacon did not want a Methodist 
preacher to come among them; they believed that the 
Methodists were the people spoken of in the Bible as false 
teachers and deceivers. 

I told them that I was no sectarian but that I wanted 
to see people saved in all the churches; neither am I 
here to proselyte. I am here to do you good and no 
harm. 

I made appointments, preached at them and organized 
Sunday schools; they did not believe in Sunday schools 
as they thought them morally wrong, but the people sent 
their children and we had interesting schools. I visited 
the parents at their homes and asked them to send their 
children. 



56 Life Sketches, 

I was stopping with Mr. E — Sunday. Bro. B — came 
over to look at the preacher; his wife wanted to join the 
Methodist church and he said if she did, he would whip 
her. I asked him if he was a member of any church. 
He said, "No; I do not believe in the Methodists," and 
said, "I do not want to hear them preach." 

I told him he should not condemn them until he had 
heard them. One of the family asked him if he was 
going to church? He answered, "No," but when the 
family started to church he went along and it is due to 
say that I had one attentive hearer, and on the next 
preaching day he was there again and the third time 
brought his Testament, joining the church and Sunday 
school. 

As I visited the families, I decided to call on the dea- 
con, Mr. C- — . He received me kindly that evening and 
sitting by the fireside I asked him if he had the rules of 
his church He said, "I haven't them in written form 
but I can tell you what they are. We believe in immer- 
sion as the only mode of baptism; we take the Bible as 
our rule of faith and we believe that the hardshell is 
the only true church on earth." 

He asked me if I was open to conviction, and I said, 
"Yes." He said, "If you are open to conviction I will 
make you a hardshell before you go from under my roof. 

I said to him, "I have not come to argue with you. I 
never knew of a soul being converted in a controversy in 
my life." He then said to me, "We will have a friendly 
talk." 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 57 

His wife had been raised a Methodist; she took a chair 
by me, she seemed to drink in every word. 

I spoke of the Apostle Paul as the true type of con- 
version; he received the Holy Ghost! What a change 
it wrought in him, and that we all must receive a change 
of heart. 

He said "It is impossible for a man to know in this 
life that his sins are forgiven; he may believe they are, 
and hope it, but he cannot know it." I said to him, 
"It is plainly taught in the Bible that we can know if 
we are saved." — Bomans 8th Chapter, 16th Verse. 

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits that 
we are the (children of God." 

1st. John 3rd Chapter, 14th verse. — "We know that we 
have passed from death unto life because we love the 
brethren." Here the conversation ended. 

He had two sons, healthy, robust, good looking young 
men; they sat by looking very blank. I said "Shall we 
have prayer before retiring?" 

He answered "I reckon not, my Bible tells me that 
whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 

I retired to bed, the family went to the kitchen, the 
men murmuring threats. The mother pleading, elevated 
her voice saying, "You shall not do it," repeating it 
over and over, saying "You had just as well hush for you 
shall not do it." 

I said to myself, "Do they mean violence?" I com- 
mitted myself to the hands of God in prayer and fell to 
sleep feeling no fear. 



58 Life Sketches, 

At three o'clock the next morning the family all g f A 
up and the men all went off somewhere. The mother 
cooked the breakfast; she called me at daylight telling 
me to hurry up, "I have breakfast ready for you." 

She took me into breakfast saying "You had better 
eat and get away or you may get into trouble." 

I ate breakfast, bade the mother good-bye, with thanks 
for her kindness, saddled Charlie and led him out. 

As I led him out through the gate the men came in at 
a gate on the opposite side of the yard; one of them 
hailed me. I made as if I did not hear, mounted Charlie 
and rode off. 

I like mission work; new fields of labor where people 
are not gospel-hardened. 

I was preaching to the children in one of my Sun- 
day schools; I preached to them that salvation was for 
children the same as for the father and mother and if 
you will test it you will find it out. 

I made them a challenge saying, "If you will comply 
with the 'conditions of salvation as God has taught in the 
Bible, repent, believe and pray, put God to the test, if 
he does not sa^e you, I will say there is nothing in it, for 
I know that He will save you." 

One boy. twelve years old, made a test of it; he went 
to the woods, fell upon his little knees and began to pray 
and there he put God to the test. He was powerfully 
converted, he went back to the house rejoicing, telling 
his father and mother that the Lord had pardoned bis 
sins. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 59 

They said before he came from the woods looking so 
good he was I he worst boy in the neighborhood bnt he 
is kind to everybody and a good boy and they said, "If 
that is Methodism that will do." 

Salvation make** better children, better fathers, bet- 
ter mothers, better brothers, better sisters, better neigh- 
bors; it betters all its possessors. It became necessary 
for me to give up the Mission, my course being approved 
by my P. E. 

I went to work at my trade. I built a set of gin gear- 
ing and a cotton screw to pack short staple cotton for 
Mr. E — ; made some money, treated Charlie my faith- 
ful horee to a new saddle, bridle, and martingale as the 
old ones had become the worse for wear, treated myself 
to a good suit of clothing, overcoat, high crown hat and 
went to conference held at Micanopy, Florida. Bishop 
Kavanaugh presided, and for 1860 I was appointed to 
the Oclahawa Mission. 

It was new territory, I was sent to make it. 

Mr. Holly had said to the P. E., "If you send us a 
young preacher I will see that he is taken care of." I 
started to the work. 

Passing through Ocala, Florida, I met Mr. E — . He 
said "I want you to build me a cotton screw to pack my 
short staple cotton." I said "I cannot build it. I am 
appointed by the Bishop at the Florida conference to the 
Oclahawa Mission and am on my way." He said "it is a 
pity to spoil a good carpenter and make a preacher out 
of you." 



60 Life Sketches, 

I journeyed on, crossed the Oclahawa Eiver; off to my 
left in sight was the plantation of Mr. Holly; he was 
ginning cotton. I knew by the sound that his gin-gear- 
ing was not geared right. I thought to myself, there ie 
work for a carpenter. I rode up to the gate, Mr. Holly 
came out to meet me. I said, "I am the preacher." He 
gave me a hearty handshake; he was an old man nearing 
his seventieth year. 

I enquired after his health. He said, "I am not feel- 
ing well ; I am trying to gin some cotton and am nearly 
worried to death. I was just saying to my wife as you 
rode up that I did not believe that a man could run a 
McCarthy Grin and live a Christian. 

He continued, '"Do you know of a man that knows 
anything about gin gearing? I have tried to get a man 
but cannot find one that knows anything about it." T 
replied, "I am the only one that I know of near this 
place; it is my trade." I repaired his gin gearing for 
him; he said it was a pleasure for him to run it after- 
wards. 

The Mission territory laid between the Oclahawa Eiver 
and St. Johns Eiver. The Big Scrub is spread between 
the two rivers and ranges from five to twenty-five miles 
through and sixty miles long and is the haunt of many 
wild animals. The black bear, panther, wildcat, deer, 
wolf, and wild turkeys abound. 

Between the Big Scrub and Oclahawa Eiver were the 
settlements. I found a few Methodists; a large major- 
ity of the people were Missionary Baptists. I made four 



Strikinq Incidents and Sermon. 61 

appointments on the four weeks plan, one for each Sun- 
day in the month. 

I had all the time I needed and more. We saw the 
good work progressing in our hands. I decided that I 
would go and see Mr. E — . He wanted me to build 
him a cotton screw to pack his short staple cotton; he 
placed the material on the ground and in fifteen days I 
built him a screw, packed a bale of cotton weighing four 
hundred pounds on it, and he paid me seventy-five dol- 
lars in gold. This supplemented my salary which was 
seventy-five dollars from the missionary board. 

In my pastoral visits I called on the moderator of the 
Baptist church; he had quit trying to gin cotton; his gin 
gearing would not work, I put it in good running order 
for him. 

In my round of pastoral visiting I heard of two fam- 
ilies living at or near Salt Spring. I decided to visit 
them. I crossed the Big Scrub following a dim trail; 
it led me to Mrs. Johnson's camp near Lake Anzy, a 
beautiful, bright water lake. 

I rode to the fence that enclosed a little house; Mrs. 
Johnson came out looking greatly surprised to see me. 
I said "I am the preacher sent to the Oclahawa Mission." 

She looked up at me through her spectacles and said 
"I suppose you are the Bishop ?" I replied, "No mam, I 
am the preacher for the Mission." "Ah then you are 
the Elder." I replied "No mam; I am not the Pre- 
siding Elder either, I am the Missionary sent to preach 
to you this year." 



62 Life Sketches, 

"Well then, get down and come in; the boys will be 
here after a while." 

In a little while her sons came in, two young men, we 
were soon on the best of terms. I said to them "You 
have certainly found a beautiful place to make your home 
by this fine lake." 

They replied, "Yes, but we cannot stay here." I 
asked them why, and they replied that it was so difficult 
to get provisions. 

One of them said,"I am just in from an eleven mile 
walk from a landing on the St. Johns river; I brought 
all the provisions I could carry and they will not last 
but a few days; we cannot have stock here for the bear, 
panther and wolf will destroy them." They said it was 
the poorest place for a preacher in the world; there are 
so few people here. 

I said to them, "I thought that you would like to have 
the preacher visit you." 

I was there in mosquito season, they were very bad; 
before we laid down to sleep a pot was brought and a 
fire built in it, green pine tops were laid upon it which 
raised a smoke that filled the camp for several yards out. 

The camp was completely hid till the smoke raised; it 
drove the mosquitoes all away so that we could sleep. 

Mr. Johnson, a third son, built a camp near Salt 
Spring. I visited him and his family, spent a day look* 
ing at the scenery. 

It is a salt spring boiling out from under a hill, the 
water a little brackish, formed a creek flowing into St. 
Johns Eiver. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 63 

The water is as clear as crystal and abounds in fish; 
the creek is wide and shallow near the spring. I went 
out in a rowboat to see the fish. I saw a number of fresh 
water trouts some of them were in their beds while others 
were swimming around. 

I could see them nearly as plain as if there had been 
no water there. These trout when caught, weigh from 
four to twelve pounds. The mullet would come dash- 
ing by the boat in schools. I judged all the way from 
two to six hundred in a school. That night I camped 
with Mr. Johnson and family, they treated me very kind- 

iy. 

We held family worship. Mr. Johnson gathered some 
rich pine splinters that made a bright torch; he sat by 
me on a bench in the camp and held the torch for me to 
see to read a Psalm. He then stepped outside the door, 
laid the torch on the ground, came back, knelt down by 
me and we prayed in the dark. 

"God is light and in him there is no darkness at all/' 

My visit to these people proved a wonderful blessing 
to me. I felt the presence of my Saviour. 

I received a note from the Eev. Thos. Cooper, my for- 
mer P. E., to call on Mr. B — saying, "I know him and 
had a talk with him and he consented to have his colored 
people preached to on his plantation." 

He lives eleven miles away from the settlement near 
the Oclawaha Eiver. I went to see Mr. B — he said, "I 
had a talk with Mr. Cooper." I made an appointment. 

When I went back to preach no preparation had been 



64 Life Sketches, 

made. A young man living with Mr. B — informed me 
that Mr. B — did not want his colored people preached 
to. I said "He must tell me so and I will not come 
again." 

Mr. B — said to me, "Are you not afraid to be travel- 
ling around here ? We are ruffians and you may be taken 
up and used roughly." I replied, "I am here in the dis- 
charge of my duty, and I do not merit ill treatment and 
until I do, let no man lay his hands on me. I am not 
here altogether of my own accord. I was sent by the 
Florida Annual Conference and I feel disposed to do my 
duty. Why did you settle here in an out of the way place 
like this? You seem to be a man of culture and infor- 
mation." 

He said, "Well, I will tell you a little of my history and 
you will understand me. I was brought up in the Caroli- 
nas in good society. I went to Sunday school and preach- 
ing every Sunday; they had good schools; in them I was 
educated. In this way I grew up to mature age. I had 
family trouble and came to Florida seeking to get rid of 
trouble and I came to this place. I thought it was as 
near out of the world as any place that I could find. I 
wanted to get away from society and everything like it, 
where I could brood over my troubles and not bother 
other people with them. I thought I was away from 
preachers and preaching but you have found me." 

Mr. B — , like so many others in the world did not 
seek to know God who is the only help in trouble. "And 
this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only 



Sinking Incidents and Sermon. 65 

true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Johu 
17:3. 

I was not satisfied with my success as a preacher, my 
efforts were so poor though I had the witness that all my 
past and present sins were forgiven and had the witness 
that I was free from the carnal mind and cleansed from 
all sin. 

This gave me a burning zeal and longing desire to see 
an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church and 
upon the preachers. I wanted to see manifestations of 
the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost, and I was 
groaning after it, when W. L. Murphy, my presiding El- 
der came to my quarterly meeting. I asked him if he 
enjoyed the blessing of sanctification. He said "I do not 
enjoy the blessing, I am seeking it." When he saw that 
I enjoyed the blessing, he asked me to pray for him and 
help him all I could. I began trying to explain the doc- 
trine. He said, "My brother, it is not the doctrine that 
I need; I understand the theory, it is experience that I 
want." 

I could but tell him that entire consecration and faith, 
coupled with earnest prayer, will bring the blessing. 

Two camp meetings were held in the district in the 
fall of 1860. One at Adamsville and the other at Stew- 
ard's Chapel in Sumpter County. 

The meeting at Adamsville began on Wednesday, con- 
tinued with good, earnest preaching, very attentive con- 
gregations but little power till Saturday eleven o'clock. 
A very earnest sermon was preached by the Rev. S. E. 



66 Life Sketches, 

Weaver; the service was about to be closed and the con- 
gregation arose to their feet to be dismissed. Brothe? 
Baker, a local preacher, that enjoyed the blessing of sanc- 
tification said "Brethren, I want to say a few words be- 
fore yon go, I came to this meeting expecting to see souls 
saved but it looks now like I will be disappointed. 
Brethren, you must excuse me, I feel awful. I see that 
if there is not more effort made there will be no souls 
saved. These preachers are cowards and the devil has 
won the fight. These preachers are not wholly consecra- 
ted nor sanctified. When mourners come to the altar to 
be prayed fo^ and to get help, you stand with your backs 
to the stand and sin^ so loud that vou will drown what 
is said. You do not try to help them to the Saviour; 
the trouble is (pointing his finger to the congregation) 
you are afraid of them big sinners out there. I am going 
to make a proposition. I want all that will covenant 
with me to pray and work for souls to come to the altar, 
and all that are seeking forgiveness for your sins." 

Many came to the altar ; they came even from the out- 
skirts of the Harbor. The congregation knelt. Brother 
Baker prayed with great power, the Holy Spirit came 
down: Brother Baker received a fresh baptism; he rose 
from his knees shouting and praising God. 

I walked over to the tent where I was to dine and the 
good sister said to her little son, "Bun and tell Brother 
Baker to come here. I want to see him." The little boy 
ran and told him, "Mother wants to see you." 

He turned and came walking up to the tent and she 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 67 

said, "Brother Baker, what is the matter with you?* 7 He 
answered "Glory to God my soul is happy/ 5 The din- 
ner was ready and she said, "'Sit down and have dinner; 
I want to talk with you/' 

He asked a blessing on the table and you could see 
that he was full and running over. 

She said "Brother Baker, what is the matter with you 
anyhow?" He leaned back in his chair and shouted with 
all his random powers, then he rose from the table and 
started across the camp grounds praising God. The Holy 
Spirit had come and it was the beginning of a gracious 
revival. Sinners were convicted and souls were converted 
and the church built up. 

I was glad to meet one preacher that enjoyed the bles- 
sing of sanctiflcation and sought an introduction with 
him and told him of my experience. 

He said "Brother, you have got the blessing; all you 
need is to confess it and preach it. If you do not con- 
fess it, it will slip away from you." 

Up to this time I did not know that it was absolutely 
necessary to confess it, to retain it and it struck me for- 
cibly. I knew it to be so from experience. I decided 
from that hour I would testify on all proper occasions 
and preach it. 

The camp meeting closed on Monday morning and on 
the next "Wednesday evening it commenced at Steward's 
Chapel. The Holy Ghost fell upon the first service and 
a great work of grace continued till the close. 

There were two sermons preached on the subject of 



68 Life Sketches, 

sanctification, one by Brother Baker, and one by your 
humble servant. The doctrine was so opposed by the 
preachers that they adopted a plan to get rid of us. They 
proposed to the P. E. that an appointment be made for 
us between the eight and eleven service, at a little log 
■church that stood in the camp grounds. 

At first I thought it beet not to accept. Brother Baker 
said that it would not do to kick that it wag done for a 
test of our humility. I consented. Brother Baker 
preached at the time set and had twelve persons to hear 
him. The next day I preached and six came to hear me. 

Our subject was considered to be of so little impor- 
tance that it was not even announced to the congregation 
that we were to preach. But the good work went on; 
some souls were getting hungry for the truth and seven 
souk received the blessing of sanctification at the meet- 
ing. Two preachers, Brothers Johnson and E. J. 
Knight and Sister Knight, his wife, came clear out into 
the experience of perfect love. 

Brother Knight said to me, "I used to drink and love 
to go to a frolic. I would ride ten miles on a dark 
rainy night on horseback with my wife up behind me. 
But at a meeting I was convicted of sin, sought and 
found pardon of my sins and tried to live a Christian 
life, but backslid several times and when I heard the doc- 
trine of sanctification preached I saw that it was just 
what I needed and I am seeking it." 

On Saturday night after the sermon, seekers were in- 
vited to the altar; many came, some seeking a clean 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 69 

heart and some seeking justification. Brother Baker 
was called upon to lead in prayer and while praying he 
fell into a trance ; fell over on his back stretched out and 
lay two hours, eyes opened, seemingly looking into space 
without winking. 

It was a very dry time and the people walking 
around to look at him raised so much dust that it set- 
tled upon his eye balls till they were covered, and when 
he came to himself he thought that someone had thrown 
sand into his eyes. We told him that it was the dust 
that had settled on his eve balls while he was in the 
trance. The Holy Ghost fell upon the people; some 
souls were justified and some 'sanctified. 

The altar service was continued till late into the night. 
The next morning I was sitting in the preacher's tent; 
Brother Knight came in, slapped me on the knee saying. 
"Brother East, I have got the blessing." Looking me 
straight in the eyes he continued; "I never could look a 
man straight in the eye before and not wink, but I can 
now." He gave me a straight look and the expression 
of the eyes and the glow of the countenance showed that 
the work was done; he was cleansed from all sin, and 
was called to preach the gospel; was admitted into the 
Florida conference. He was a 'soul winner and preached 
with power, the word from his mouth was a two- 
edged sword to many souls. 

But we returned to the camp ground to view another 
scene. W. L. Murphy, the P. E., went to the altar seek- 
ing the blessing of sanctification and a preacher was 



70 Life Sketches, 

heard to whisper to another, preacher, "See our P. E. 
in the straw? I am ashamed of him." He said to me, 
"I do not care what anyone sa) T s; I intend to seek the 
blessing till I receive it." 

The camp meeting closed, we passed letters; when I 
would write to him my soul would get on fire and I 
would be constrained to write, "Hallelujah, the Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth!" and again, "Glory to God in the 
highest." He wrote me that he enjoyed my letters very 
much, but he did not see any cause for so much praising 
God. 

"The new name written in the white stone given, is 
known and read only by him that receiveth it." He did 
receive the blessing of sanetification and he wrote sev- 
eral articles on the subject. They were published in the 
Wesley an Christian Advocate published in Georgia. 
They were published in the beginning of the controversy 
carried on pro and con on the doctrine of sanctification 
and the experience, and out of the controversy has come 
the holiness movement and the second blessing. I have 
read the arguments on both sides and according to my 
way of thinking, the second blessing has got it down 
right. They have got the experience and Mr. Wesley 
says; "It is the second blessing properly so-called. A 
child is not named until after it is born, so the second 
blessing is simply the name of the work of the sanctify- 
ing and cleansing by the power of the Holy Ghost." 

As upon the day of Pentecost, the holiness writers have 
refuted everv argument of the anti-holiness writers and 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 71 

have silenced their pens and the revival goes on spread- 
ing as it goes. I saw the need of this revival forty, 
yes, forty-five years ago, and I prayed as earnestly as I 
knew how to God, to raise up a man or men that had 
the spirit of the Wesley s to preach the doctrine of holi- 
ness and live it as it is taught in the standards of our 
church, and glory be to God, I have lived to see it. 

God has raised up W. B. Godbey, B. Carradine and 
H. C. Morrison and a host of others, preachers, teachers, 
and evangelists. Bishop G. F. Pierce saw the need of 
a great revival in the church and wrote a number of arti- 
cles that were published in the church papers. He saw 
that it was needed to 'counteract the worldliness that was 
in the church and when the Holiness Associations were 
being formed in Georgia; he thought them not best, but 
when he saw the revival spirit in them he did not op- 
pose them. The saddest of all, is the opposition and si- 
lence of those in the church to her doctrine?. It is sheer 
ignorance on the part of many but of those that are bet- 
ter informed it is bordering on sin against the Holy 
Ghost. As the preaching of John Wesley and the Kefor- 
mation were the means of savins: the Church of England 
in a great measure from spiritual death, so the Holiness 
Movement has been the means in a great measure of 
arousing the church from her dead formalism and it has 
started a second evangelism. 

It is to be seen whether they will fall back into the 
dead formalism. It is the old trick of the devil; he will 
be satisfied with anything but the true coin, that is en- 
tire consecration, sanctification, holiness of heart and life. 



72 Life Sketches, 

CHAPTER VI. 

EMOTIONS. 

If God had never intended to move upon man's emo- 
tional nature, he would never have given him one in his 
creation, and whatever may have been the effect of the 
fall on the emotional, it is certain that when the sinner 
complies with all the conditions of salvation and a 
change is wrought in the heart by the work of the Holy 
Spirit, whether it be justification or sanctification there 
will be more or less emotion. Especially so in sanctifica- 
tion or holiness of heart; it was so on the day of Pente- 
cost; they acted like men drunk on new wine. We have 
best consider how men act when under the influence of 
new wine to see how they acted. 

New wine makes men shout and talk. To illustrate : 
In 1870 I was called upon to marry a couple. I went 
and performed the ceremony, they had a very nice sup- 
per and at the end they brought around a glass of what 
they called "Sillabub." I refused, feeling sure that there 
were spirits in it, but the host assured me that there was 
nothing in it that would intoxicate. That it was nothing 
but milk and eggs, and sugar spiced up to taste. I took 
a glass and ate it. I could not discern any taste of spirits 
in it and it was certainly suited to taste and in a half 
hour there w r as a joyful crowd, laughing and talking at 
the same time. It was a babble of voices and I with 






Striking Incidents and Sermon. 73 

them. I wanted to talk fast. I saw the situation and I 
kept quiet. The wedding was in the country and when 
the company started home there was shouting along the 
road; the comparison was not of divine origin but was 
made by the lookers on at the day of Pentecost. 

As I see it there is a tendency to limit the spiritual 
power of the Holy Ghost and grieve the Spirit. The 
experience of men and women reveal this. 

Sister C. was a great worker in revivals,, powerful in 
prayer and a great Mother in Israel. She said to me at 
a camp meeting, {C 1 sought the blessing of sanctification 
but did not receive it. The meeting closed and I returned 
home still seeking the blessing, greatly desiring to be 
cleansed from the carnal mind. Night came on, I enter- 
ed my room still looking to Jesus my only help ; my faith 
was strong. I felt that God would give me all that I would 
ask of him for I felt and saw the blessing coming : it was 
so great that I was afraid it would kill me. I steeled my 
heart against it and missed the blessing/' 

We have often done this when the conditions have all 
been complied with and the Trinity stands pledged to do 
the work. Our will must be brought into action. I will 
receive the blessing. Xow I will illustrate by describing 
a scene that I witnessed at a camp meeting on Provi- 
dence Camp Grounds in South Carolina, with ministerial 
help. In the meeting was Mr. P. A., a Presbyterian 
Minister. He was a great educator and could speak eight 
different languages and was a man of fine intellect and 
preached an able discourse. 



74 Life Sketches, 

Bro. Conner, a young student, just returned from 
school at Cokesbury preparing for the ministry, was 
appointed to preach Sunday afternoon at three o'clock; 
his subject was the Transfiguration of Christ; his text 
was Matthew 17 :2. "And was transfigured before 
them." He read the parallel passages in Mark and Luke 
and painted a picture to the audience of Christ trans- 
figured upon the mount with Moses and Elias. 

Talking with him Mr. P. was filled with the Spirit; 
reviewing the drawn picture he became enthused; his 
eyes fixed on the preacher, he could not sit still, he 
dashed across the altar and sat a few seconds, then to 
another seat trying to control his feelings. He saw that 
he would have to $hout so he stuffed his handkerchief in 
his mouth to smother it, but he saw that would not do; 
he would have to shout for very joy and he left and went 
to the preachers' tent. 

The services closed and when we went to the tent he 
was walking back and forth greatly excited, and as the 
preachers walked in he said, "Brethren, you must excuse 
me for leaving the service. I saw that I would have to 
leave or disturb the audience. I am miserable, I do not 
know w T hat is the matter with me." 

Brother B. one of the ministers said to him, "I know 
what is the matter with you. You have quenched the 
Spirit." 

Eeacler have you ever quenched the Spirit ? 

We should use common sense in spiritual things as well 
as in the temporal. I do not believe in shaking the cup 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 75 

to make it run over but when it pleases God to fill the cup 
and it runs over, I say let it come. I wish that I could 
say that I never quenched the spirit. A book can be writ- 
ten on this subject and I can hardly withhold my pen. 

In this year 1861, I read Mrs. Phoebe Palmer's book, 
"Entire Devotion." It was food for the soul. I re- 
ceived from reading it great spiritual benefit. I now en- 
joyed the fulness of the blessing and was constrained to 
bless God that I was ever born to experience such a bles- 
sing. This was the blessing of all blessings ; such peace ; 
my peace flowed like a river. It was peace and joy in the 
Holy Ghost. 

On my bed at night, in silent awe, I would shout my- 
self to sleep and -sleep in Beulah land. I found it not 
only peace and joy but freedom from the carnal mind. — 
"But now being made free from sin and become servants 
to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end 
everlasting life." — Eomans 6 :2;2. 

What freedom ! "And ye shall know the truth and the 
truth shall make you free." "'If Christ shall make ye 
free, ye shall be free indeed." 

I now read the Bible with enlightened eves. I saw 
that it taught holiness of heart and life and I preached 
it as I found it in the book. 

At the first Quarterly Conference on this circuit my 
P. E. moved me to the Black Creek Circuit to fill a va- 
cancy left by Mr. Lewis. This year was the beginning 
of the war between the North >and the South, and at the 
close of this year 1861, I located and lived at Middles- 



76 Life Sketches, 

burg, Florida. A request was made of a good lady 
through the papers that every Friday be made a day of 
fasting and prayer, to pray for peace. A prayer meet- 
ing was appointed at Middlesburg on Friday at eleven 
o'clock and the fast observed. 

The meeting was well attended at first but they soon 
began to drop off till only a few were left. I decided 
that I would go as long as any one, and I went one Fri- 
day and no one came. I went into the church and pray- 
ed and I was filled with the Spirit. The Lord revealed 
Himself to my soul in a most wonderful manner. I was 
overpowered. I came out of the church and started to 
my home; I felt the power of God in me, above and 
beneath me, behind me and on both sides of me. I felt 
so light I could hardly feel the ground under me ; I went 
reeling and staggering along the road, could hardly keep 
from falling to the ground. 

This blessing proved to be a preparation for work; 
after this the Spirit accompanied the preached word and 
a revival begun and the first soul convicted and cdnverted 
was a man sixty years old, a miserable drunkard, and 
fighter; he had been shot, cut with knives but escaped 
with life. "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and 
uphold me with thy free Spirit; then will I teach trans- 
gressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto 
thee/'— Psalm 51 :12-13. 

So it proved to be in this case. The revival spread 
and .some interest was manifested at Middlesburg. 

Sister Buddington, a member of the church, a bright 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 77 

Christian, gifted in prayer, (sometimes she was called 
upon to pray in the congregation) and the audience was 
moved under the influence of her prayers; she became 
greatly concerned, about the spiritual state of her child- 
ren. They were growing up and not being converted. 
She said to me, "Brother East, pray for my children," I 
said, "Sister Buddington, pray for them yourself. I will 
help you." Jesus says, "Therefore I say unto you what 
things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye re- 
ceive them and ye shall have them." — Mark 11 :24. 

I said, "Try your faith on them." Sometime after 
our conversation she said to me, "One night I entered 
my room deciding to pray for my children; before I laid 
down I kndlt by my bedside and prayed for them for a 
long time and the longer I prayed, the more I felt and 
saw the need of prayer, for prayer begets prayer, a wres- 
tling spirit seemed to possess me. I could not let go, I 
felt that all depended on that effort and I prayed all 
night and just at the break of day God answered my 
prayer, giving me assurance that my children would be 
converted and saved. 

"I laid down on my bed and went sound, asleep and! 
slept till sunrise ; when I awoke I was very happy ; there 
was a great calm and peace within, the sunshine seemed 
to have a brightness about it that I never saw before 
and it was one of the brightest days of my life." 

The next Sunday on her way to church she stopped 
at my house and said to me, "You announce to the con- 
gregation that there will be a prayer meeting at my 



78 Life Sketches, 

house this afternoon at three o'clock/' I was glad, as it 
was my day to preach at Middlesburg, I made the an- 
nouncement. This prayer meeting was the beginning of 
a great revival. The Holy Spirit was poured out in 
convicting and converting power, and in three months 
from the time that Sister Buddington prayed all night, 
she saw two sons and three daughters 'Converted in her 
own parlor. What a direct answer to prayer. Fathers 
and mothers, pray for your children. 

In the meeting there was thought to be near a hundred 
conversions, bright and clear, with an unusual amount 
of loud shouting. How the saints did shout for joy! 

Sister Phillips, wife of Jackson Phillips and sister of 
L. T. Blake, of the Florida Conference heard of the" re- 
vival meeting and feeling greatly concerned for the salva- 
tion of her children, came nineteen miles and brought 
two of her children, Arriliws and Arnett, her son and 
daughter and said to me, "I have brought them to be 
converted. I want you to pray for them." 

She was the salt of the earth, was gifted in prayer, a 
good worker in the meeting; under her earnest prayers 
the Holy Spirit came down in power and her children 
were brightly converted. 

The younger children were left at home with the other 
members of the family. One of them said, "Mother has 
gone to the meeting to have Brother and Sister con- 
verted and left us at home. I tell you what we will do; 
we will go and have a prayer meeting ourselves/' They 
went a little way from the house, found a place and be- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 79 

gan to sing and pray and God heard their earnest child- 
ish prayers and two of them were 'converted, and when 
Mother returned home from the meeting she found her 
little daughter Lueinda, aged nine, and a little colored 
girl happy in the Saviour's love. Imagine the joy of the 
mother's heart. 

Lucinda is now the wife of the Eev. F. A. Taylor, of 
the Florida Conference a help-mate indeed, and a great 
worker in the church. 

In the revival at Middlesburg in 1863, not only were 
the church members revived and sinners convicted and 
converted, but the children were converted in the Sun- 
day school. The revival spread to other appointments 
on the circuit. At Oak Grove, six miles west of Middles- 
burg, the Spirit was manifest. Oak Grove, is a Black 
Jack thicket that we find in places in Florida; in this 
thicket or Oak Grove, stood a house where public school 
was taught, The house was used also for a church. The 
public school was being taught by Mr. C. The most part 
of them had been converted in the revival; one day when 
the teacher turned them out at noon, instead of going 
to play as children usually do, they decided to go out 
into the Grove and have a prayer meeting. They strol- 
led a little further in the Grove than they intended to 
have their prayer meeting, and began singing and pray- 
ing, and become so interested in their prayers and songs 
when the teacher rang the bell to call them to their books 
they did not hear it. The teacher rang the beill again but 
they did not hear it. He hunted them up and found 



80 Life Sketches, 

them singing, praying and shouting. He took them back 
to the schoolhouse, turned the school into a prayer meet- 
ing. They sang and prayed and shouted, until time to 
turn out and then went home. This was getting religion 
in the good old-fashioned way. 

"In the good old-fashion way 
In the good old-fashion way 
I am going home to glory 
In the good old-fashion way." 

I will relate my experience to direct answer in prayer. 
When I was a student at school in Cokesbury, S. C, in 
1853, there were four young men preparing for the min- 
istry. There was a revival in the church ; among the stu- 
dents a proposition was made to all that were converted 
to select a fellow student and pray for him until he was 
converted. We did so and those who were selected were 
converted. This increased my faith in special prayer for 
individuals. 

"Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye de- 
sire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye 
shall have them." Mark 11 :24. 

In 1876 in Nassau County, Florida, lived Mr. F. who 
had a nice family. He drank and was a desperate char- 
acter. He was dreaded by those who knew him. He was 
a leader of the baser sort. I saw his danger of being 
lost if not stopped. I decided to pray to God to convict 
him and lead him to repentance. I prayed thus — "Oh 
Lord , Thou didst die for Mr. F. Thy blood was shed on 
the cross for his soul. I pray thee, show him his sins and 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 81 

then save him from his sins, if it is Thy will. Not for 
anything that I have done, or can do, or ever will do, but 
for Thy own mercy's sake save him/' 

I had the assurance -that my prayer was heard and to 
pray again would imply doubt. Mr. F. was deeply con- 
victed of sin. At his home he could not see any cause, 
he felt and saw that he was a great sinner and if he did 
not repent he would be lost. He went to church and 
was converted and made deacon in the church. 

Satisfaction brings the soul in direct communion with 
God where we can make known all of our desires and 
offer our prayers, and God will answer all of our prayers 
that are according to His will. 

"Confess your faults, one to another and pray one for 
another, that ye may be healed." "The effectual, fer- 
vent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 
5:16. 

"God is not willing that any should perish but that 
all should come to repentance. 2nd Peter 3rd Chapter. 
I now enjoyed the fulness of the blessing and lived it. 
The preachers that I met would interrogate on this sub- 
ject. I seldom met one that had the experience. 

My helps were the life of Carvosso and John Fletcher's 
book on Sanctification. 

I now could see holiness in the Bible in all its ful- 
ness. You may read the Bible a lifetime and yet not 
see the great beauty in holiness and be a justified and re- 
generated soul. 

It is like travelling a road; we see it and know it as 



82 Life Sketches, 

far as we travel it, but no further, and is it not strange 
that all Methodist ministers do not seek and obtain the 
blessing of sanctification as it is openly taught in the 
standards of the church. 

There is a great silence on the subject on the part oi 
many, and opposed by some in high places, and when I 
speak thus they tell me that is all true but you had bet- 
ter not say anything about it for it is very unpopular. 

But there have been a faithful few who have walked 
with god as Enoch, Elijah, Daniel, the Apostles, the 
Wesleys, John Fletcher, Lovic Pierce and others. I once 
said that when Lovic Pierce died the M. E. Church, 
South, would be an orphan on the subject of holiness, 
but I made a great mistake. I find that God has raised 
up a W. B. Godbey, W. W. Hooper, B. Carradine, H. C. 
Morrisan and others. If they were all numbered there 
would be a multitude and still the good work goes on. 



i 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 83 



CHAPTER VII. 

LOSSES AND CROSSES. 

In 186-7 I moved to Ocala, Florida, where I met with 
great trials and losses, but I found the grace of God suffi- 
cient for me in my greatest trials. I receiver my grea- 
test blessing here in 1869, Nov. 29th. 

My wife was taken from me by the relentless hand of 
death. It was a hard stroke and laid a burden on my 
heart which grew heavier every day until it was intol- 
erable to be borne. I went to the Lord in prayer and 
He took it all away. What a wonderful Saviour in Jesus 
to bear our burdens! 

We were married January 5th. 1862. She had not 
been converted but was convicted of sin and had been for 
some time. She said to me, "Your walk and Christian 
example has been the means of leading me to Christ, 
and I would have been saved long ago if some one had 
shown me how to be saved." 

After she was converted I asked her to assist me in 
family worship. She said "I cannot; the cross is too 
heavy." 

I insisted and she said "I will try but may fail." But 
she did not fail; she was gifted in prayer and found it 
to be a means of grace. She received spiritual strength 
and she prayed as often in the family as I did, and at 
times the Savior would manifest His presence during her 



84 Life Sketches, 

prayer at the family altar and we had precious seasons 
of grace. 

In 1869 the town of Ocala was plagued with typhoid 
fever and meningitis combined. Our family of five all 
had the fever one at a time and for five months of the year 
we were nursing. My wife took it at last; she was im- 
pressed that she would die, and for two weeks grew worse 
all the time. 

I asked the doctor if there was any 'chance for her re- 
covery but he said "You may prepare yourself for the 
worst." The next day she called me and said, "I am 
going to die but it is all well. I am ready and willing. 
What I have called you for is to thank you for the pa- 
tience you have had with me. Your walk and Christian 
life have been a great help to me. Do you think that it 
is any harm to wear gold ?" I said, "it is if you set your 
heart upon it." 

In her young days she liked fine dressing and to wear 
jewelry. She took off her gold breast pin and handed it 
to me saying, "I do not want it any more." This com- 
pleted her entire consecration. After this she was fully 
resigned. The next morning I saw a great change in her 
and fearing the end was near, I sent for Brother Clontz, 
a minister that was near by. 

He came and when he saw her he said, "I think the 
cause of your fears is religious ecstasy," and so it proved 
to be. Her soul was in a rapture of unspeakable joy. 
After a while she began to talk and told us, "I have been 
praying, and the Lord has wonderfully blessed me and I 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 85 

am ready and willing to die. I am dying ; come and kiss 
me. I want to kiss my children." Walter, five years 
old, and Lawton, three, were helped on the bed and she 
kissed them good-bye. I took her by the hand and she 
said, "Good-bye; meet me in Heaven. Try and raise 
the children right ; but I know that you will do the best 
you can." She said, "Sing for me the song 'All is well. 5 " 

"What is this that steals, that steak upon my frame? 

Is it Death? Is it death? 
That soon will quench, will quench this vital flame ? 

Is it Death. ? is it death ? 
If this be death I soon shall be 
From every pain and sorrow free, 
I shall the King of Glory see, 

All is well. All is well. 

"Weep not my friends, weep not for me. 

All is well, all is well, 
My sins are pardoned, pardoned I am free; 

All is well, all is well. 
There is not a cloud that doth arise, 
To hide my Jesus from mine eyes ; 
I soon shall mount the upper skies, 

All is well, all is well. 

"Tune, tune your harp, your harps ye saints in glory; 

All is well, all is well, 
I will rehearse, rehearse the pleasing story, 

All is well, all is well, 



86 Life Sketches, 

Bright angels are from Glory come; 
They're round my bed, they're in my room, 
They wait to waft my spirit home, 
All is well, all is well. 

"Hark, hark, my Lord, my Lord and Master calls me. 

All is well, all is well, 
I soon shall see, shall see his face in Glory, 

All is well, all is well. 
Farewell my friends, adieu ! adieu ! 
I can no longer stay with you, 
My glittering crown appears in view, 

All is well, all is well. 

"Hail, hail, all hail, all hail, you blood-washed throng, 

Saved by grace, saved by grace, 
I've come to join your rapturous song, 

Saved by grace, saved by grace, 
All, all is peace and joy divine, Heaven and glory now are 

mine, 
Oh, Hallelujah to the Lamb, 

All is well, all is well." 

I sang this song for her the best I could. At the end 
of the song I said, "Do you feel that all is well ?" She 
said, "Yes, I am realizing the sentiment of that song 
now, and I feel that all is well." 

In the evening I sent for the pastor, S. Woodbury, who 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 87 

came and prayed with her. At the close of the prayer she 
began to sing, — 

"Jesue my all to Heaven has gone; 
He whom I fixed my hopes upon." 

Chorus. 
"Fm going home, Fm going home, 
I'm going home to die no more, 
To die no more, to die no more, 
Fin going home to die no more." 

Her week tremulous voice sounded like music from 
Heaven, for she had been one of the sweetest singers 
in Zion. She passed away in great peace like a child 
going to sleep on its mother's bosom. She fell asleep in 
Jesus, November 29th. 1869. We shall meet again. 



88 Life Sketches, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A REVIVAL. 

In 1870 I was re-admitted in the Florida Conference 
and appointed to Lake Butler and Sanderson Circuit. I 
entered upon the work determined by the help of God to 
do my best. I knew from where my help must come 
and I began to fast and pray for the Lord to revive His 
work on the circuit, and in my own soul. I tried to pray 
all the spare time I had from my other duties. Some 
days I would pray half the day; when I was tired kneel- 
ing, I laid down or sat down and prayed. I used absti- 
nence or fasting, Tuesday and Friday and prayed and 
God heard and answered my prayers and gave me the 
assurance that the revival would come. 

I communed with the Lord and He said He w r ould 
give me all that I would ask for. I said I would rather 
not specify, just give us the best you have for us, and I 
tell you I never could have thought of what He sent. I 
have tried to describe some scenes in the following pages. 
Strange to say, and yet true, I had lost the witness to my 
sanctification because I had failed on proper occasions. 
This was the third time I had lost the witness from the 
same cause. It had taken me all these years to learn I 
could not retain the witness to my sanctfication and fail 
to testify. 

Mr. Fletcher, who wrote his book on the doctrine of 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 89 

Sanctification, lost the witness four times from the same 
cause. Many fail at this point ; it is a snare of the devil 
to deceive the ignorant and disobedient. 

At the third quarterly conference on the circuit, the 
Holy Spirit was poured out; men and women were con- 
victed of sin; the meeting was protracted one week. 
Brother James Pierce, a local preacher came to help me. 
He enjoyed the blessing of sanctification. I related to 
him my experience. I told him that I had enjoyed the 
blessing of sanctification for years but I had lost the 
witness. My faith is unshaken in the doctrine. I know 
that it is for all that will comply with the conditions and 
I mean to be all the Lord's. He said to me, "I see just 
where you stand; you have failed to claim the witness by 
faith." I saw the point ; my faith laid hold on the pro- 
mises of God and instantly the witness came that same 
sweet peace that I had enjoyed so long. Peace flowing 
like a river, a peace that the world cannot give nor take 
away. 

I gave testimony, lived and preached the doctrine as 
taught in God's word. The Spirit attended the word and 
many were stricken down under the power of the gospel 
in the congregation and laid for an hour or more, some 
more, some less, without moving a muscle, the eyes set, 
not winking. I will try to describe a few scenes but it 
is impossible to describe them fully. They had to be 
seen to be realized. The Holy Spirit would fall upon 
the congregations with such power that some would fall 
over as if by a deadly shot from a rifle. Miss W., age 



90 Life Sketches, 

seventeen, would go into a trance when listening to 
preaching ; she would fall to the floor if someone did not 
catch her. She had a peculiar glow on her face when in 
a trance that was noticed by all that saw her, both saint 
and sinner ; her face shone as Moses when he came down 
from the mount or like Stephen whose face shone as the 
face of an angel. 

Mr. M — . a young man aged twenty, was praying in 
prayer meeting; he went into a trance, fell over on his 
back upon the floor full length and began to raise both 
hands slowly as if trying to touch something above him, 
waved his hands back and forth a few inches ; he lay in 
this position for an hour or more. Fearing he would be 
tired holding his arms in one position so long, I went 
to him to lay his arms down; they were stiff. I could 
not bend them. I tried a finger but it would not bend. 
When he began to get -control of himself, or coming to, 
as it is called by the lookers-on, he began to laugh the 
holy laugh and began to get up slowly, and when he got 
up he looked differently and walked differently. It seem- 
ed that he had caught some of the angelic look and walk. 
He said, "I am filled with the fullness of God." He was 
in this mood for two weeks. He liked to be alone and 
seemed to have uninterrupted communion with God. 

The revival spread all over the work of eight appoint- 
ments and beyond. In the work of the revival twelve per- 
sons went into trances and those who were wrought upon 
in that way would go into a trance at different times, so 
that we seldom held a meeting that there was not a 



Sinking Incidents and Sermon. 91 

trance. We had four stretched out in one sendee in a 
trance; a trance is the right name for them because it 
is scriptural. Peter fell into a trance and saw heaven 
opened. Some of them tell us of the wonderful things 
they saw in a trance like Paul that was caught up into 
paradise and saw things he would not tell. 

I held a meeting at Pine Grove church and the power 
of the Holy Ghost came down upon it as at other meet- 
ings. A young lady, Miss H , went into a trance; 

the saints shouted aloud for joy. These powerful demon- 
strations of the Spirit of God drew the people from far 
persons came ten miles in an ox-wagon to the meeting; 
closed Sunday night with great victory for the Lord; six 
persons come ten miles in an ox-wagon to the meeting; 
they had all been converted in the revival. On Monday 
morning they started home; Brother Pierce, who helped 
me in the meeting and a young man was on horse back 
riding along behind the wagon, all travelling along the 
road singing as they went, making melody in their hearts 
to the Lord. 

Miss H — , a young lady, fell into a trance, they tra- 
velled on and another one of the party turned over in a 
trance and there was no one that could drive the oxen. 
The young man who was riding behind the wagon with 
Brother Pierce got off his horse and let Brother Pierce 
lead him, got into the wagon and drove the oxen for 
them. They went singing and praising God for His won- 
derful works that they had witnessed. Trances had be- 
come common; some went into one on sick beds, some 
at private devotion. 



92 Life Sketches, 

Erving and Drew Barnett, aged fifteen and thirteen, 
selected a place in the grove to pray, they named it the 
"Bower." They would go there in the evening to pray. 
One evening Drew was missing at the supper table. The 
mother asked the children if any of them knew where he 
was, but neither of them did. Supper being over the 
mother became anxious about him and Erving said, 
"Mother, I expect Drew has gone to the Bower." "And 
what is the Bower," asked the mother. "It's a place 
where Drew and I go to pray of an evening, down by the 
field." 

The dishes laid away, the mother took the children and 
went to the Bower and there knelt the little boy like a 
statue, in a trance. The bower was made vocal that 
evening with songs and praise; when Drew could walk, 
they returned to the house wondering at the power of 
God. Drew had been converted in the revival and, like 
Samuel, called to preach. When a boy of eighteen ha 
was admitted into the Florida Conference ; he was a gif- 
ted and successful preacher, travelled twenty years, died 
at his post and has gone home to Heaven. 

I have tried to describe a few of the many scenes that 
were witnessed, and one thing remarkable about all was 
that those that witnessed the trances were struck with 
awe in the presence of God. Not a smile from the giddy 
and gay, and often deep conviction would come upon 
them. Some people looked upon me as though I was po- 
sessed with some supernatural power or magnetism. 

I said to them, "It is none of my work, but it is the 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 93 

wonder working power of an Almighty God, and is mar- 
velous in our eyes, and God shall have all the glory. I 
do not see why God should use me, his weak instrument, 
who am less than the least of all his children. But it is 
God's way. He chooses the foolish things of the world to 
confound the wise ! and God hath chosen the weak things 
of the world to confound the things which are mighty V 3 
Corinthians 1 :27. This is just what was prophesied by 
the prophet Joel ! "And it came to pass afterward that 
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall 
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions and also 
upon the servants and upon the hand-maids. In those 
days will I pour out my Spirit." — Joel 2 :28-29. 

The whole secret of the revival was that it begun and 
was led by the Holy Spirit. 

A scene witnessed in a revival in 1871 : A young man 
Mr. B., the first convert in this revival, and Miss W., con- 
verted sometime after, were engaged to be married; the 
day was appointed but the war had so affected the offices 
of the county that the clerk of the court was out of his 
place and license could not be obtained in Baker County. 
W. J. Barnett, living in Columbia County, invited Mr. B. 
and Miss W. to be married at his home. I was asked to 
perform the ceremony. The bridal party was made up 
and we all started with buggies and horses on an eigh- 
teen mile road. All of the party had been converted 
in the revival and their hearts were aglow in their first 
love. As we travelled along the road we sang revival 



94 Life Sketches, 

songs, making melody in our hearts. The pine forest 
was made to reverberate with the melody of their happi- 
ness. We arrived at Bro. B's in due time, received a 
hearty welcome, and at candle light, Mr. E. Barnett and 
Miss Alvany Woodburn were united in holy w r edlock, 
Oct. 6th, 1871. 

The party was invited to remain over all the next day 
and enjoy themselves; we remained and the day was 
spent in singing hymns and spiritual songs and talk- 
ing over the scenes that they had witnessed in the re- 
vival, and how Satan had tried to tempt them to live 
for the world. I put in a word of counsel as occasion re- 
quired, feeling a burden for the young Christians that 
they may hold out and for others that were seeking par- 
don. The day was spent very pleasantly; night came on 
and <at family prayer a spirit of prayer fell on the preach* 
er and at the close of the prayer the bride and groom 
were shouting and praising God with the rest of the 
party. The bride was so overcome by the power of the 
Spirit she did not rise from her knees, but sat back on 
the floor and began to sing: "I have a Mother that has 
gone before, and I love God, glory hallelu j ah ; You may 
tell my mother I am going there too, I love God, glory 
hallelujah." Her mother died when she was small and 
now she had a bright hope of meeting her in heaven. The 
groom was walking around shaking hands and rejoicing; 
it was a scene for angels to look upon. We turned it into 
a praise meeting and one young lady was reclaimed and 
one converted. Was it not an ideal wedding feast ? God 
shall have all the glory. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 95 

In 1858, on my first circuit, I read an article in the 
Southern Christian Advocate how to have revivals. It 
was to pray and believe, till you are cleansed from all 
sin, and then go to work and give God all the glory. 

The revival was started and carried on in this way. 
"When I think myself to be something then I am noth- 
ing. But when I think myself to be nothing then I am 
something." God and one are a majority. One man of 
you shall chase a thousand, "for the Lord your God, he 
it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you." 
Joshua 23:10. 

Here it is reduced to a mathematical problem. When 
I set myself down as one and God and the Trinity as 
naught, I begin and end with self. But when I set down 
God and Trinity as one and myself as naught, God can 
use me as the means of the conversion of a thousand souls 
and two can put ten thousand to flight. "Who can bring 
a clean thing out of- an unclean thing ?" None but God. 
"'Without me ye can do nothing" and "it is not by 
might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of 
Hosts." 

We had one backslider reclaimed; a remarkable case 
in this great revival, Brother J. B .Mann ; he was brought 
up by pious parents. Brother and sister Mann were 
blessed with ten children, five sons and five daughters, a 
remarkable family. The children were converted as they 
grew up; there was prayer daily at the family altar and 
there was religion in the home though deprived of the 
preaching of the gospel. In a measure, living isolated 



96 Life Sketches, 

from the circuit and sometimes left without a preacher, 
they built a church and Brother Mann managed to have 
a Christmas meeting at his church every Christmas. He 
invited Brother James Pierce to hold their meeting and 
he preached the doctrine of Sanctification as taught in 
our standards. Their meetings were great seasons of 
grace. This year 1870 was the thirtieth year without 
a break of holding their Christmas meetings, and was it 
not an ideal way to celebrate the birth of Christ? 

Isaac, the youngest child, was converted when a little 
boy, grew up a pious young man gifted in prayer and was 
appointed class leader in his church. He said to me, "I 
enjoyed religion but the devil tempted me saying you 
are young and can serve the Lord when you get older; 
he held up before me the pleasures of the world, I yielded 
and decided I would try some of them not realizing what 
I was doing. I thought I could lay my religion down and 
when I wanted it I could take it up again. I backslid 
and went deep into sin. I wooed the girl of my choice, 
built me a home and settled down, then I knew I ought 
to live a better life." In the revival he sought the Lord 
but did not find him. He was in great distress ; he would 
come to the altar looking pale and troubled and go away 
with no relief; he became so wretched that he could 
scarcely sleep or eat. He sought in this state for twelve 
months. I learned of his distress of soul and I visited 
him at his home. I said to him, '"Have you received the 
blessing you have been seeking?" He answered, "No, I 
have given it up, I cannot be saved." I said to him 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 97 

"You cannot afford to give it up, to give it up is to be 
lost." 

I read to him Hebrews 11:6, — "For he that cometh 
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek him." I said to him. "Now 
do you believe if you seek him diligently that He will be 
found of you?" 

He said, "No, I do not, for I have sinned wilfully 
against light and knowledge and do not believe that God 
will have any mercy on me." I told him, "I see just 
where you stand; you are wrapped up in unbelief; you 
will have to believe that God is, and that He is able and 
ready and willing to pardon all your sins and that He will 
do it now." "If you can make all these points you can 
be saved now, today for these are the conditions upon 
which all men are saved." God says, "I am married 

"Unto you, backsliding children-." Jeremiah 3 :14. 
You have divorced yourself from God; come back and 
make up ; you have had your own way a while. God says, 
"The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own 
ways." Proverbs, 14. Now if you will try God's way he 
will save you. "Believe in Him who died for thee, and 
as sure as he hath died, the debt is paid ; thy soul is saved 
and thou art justified." 

Some months after in a prayer meeting he accepted 
Christ by faith, was gloriously saved and called to preach 
the gospel ; he has been laboring as an evangelist and has 
been the means of leading many souls to Christ. Five 
preachers came out of this great revival. This was 



98 Life Sketches, 

not fanaticism; the whole church needs a revival like 
this; it would solve every problem in the church. Bish- 
ops would not be asking the question in annual confer- 
ences, "Why is it that God is not calling men to preach 
the gospel ?" The works were not all being filled ; some 
of the preachers and some people looked upon the won- 
derful demonstration of the power of God in the revival 
as fanaticism. I watched it all very closely and I could 
not see anything but the old time power, the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost. 

The revival began the third quarterly meeting on the 
circuit in 1870 and increased in power until the close of 
the conference year, 1871. The Conference was held at 
Madison, Fla., Bishop J. 0. Andrew presiding. In mak- 
ing my report to the conference I did not mention the 
revival. I was not seeking the applause of men. Bro- 
ther T. E. Barnett said, "Perhaps the conference would 
like to hear something about the revival that you had 
upon your work ?" The Bishop .said : "Yes, it is encour- 
aging to hear of a work of grace." I said: "Bishop, it 
was a great work and it is impossible to describe it; it 
had to be seen to be realized. Men and women would fall 
under the preaching of the word and lie for hours with- 
out motion. The Bishop said: "To what do you attri- 
bute such wonderful power and demonstrations of the 
Spirit?" I said: "Bishop, I attribute it to seeking and 
obtaining, professing, living and preaching the doctrine 
of sanctification as taught in the standards of our 
church." A P. E. leaned baefc in his chair and said ; "I 



Striking Incidents and Sermon, 90 

differ with you, brother/' It did not accord with his 
views. I have not written to provoke controversy nor in 
a fault-finding spirit, but simply stating the facts as they 
occurred. I wrote an article in the Southern Christian 
Advocate describing the wonderful work and it found 
its w^ay to the wastebasket, and merely mention made of 
the revival. It has been published only in this volume. 
I have a great recollection of faces when the heart is 
filled with love ; it lights up the face ; it is so in human 
love but it is much more so when filled with divine love. 
The most lovely sight I ever looked upon on earth was a 
young man and a young lady filled with the Holy Ghost 
in 1848. I attended a camp meeting on Saturday at the 
eleven o'clock service. The preacher read from the Bible 
the text : "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden and I will give you rest/' During the sermon a 
young lady was so filled with the Holy Gtiost that she 
could not rise from her chair. When the people were 
leaving the tabernacle, her brother came and took her 
arm and helped her to rise to her feet, and she went reel- 
ing on his arm to the tent and her face shown as if it had 
been the face of an angel. It did more to knack unbelief 
out of me than all the preaching that I had heard. 



100 Life Sleet dies, 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE WAGES OF SIN. 

I know a man, Mr. F— ; he had made a fortune by 
cheating and selling whiskey. I met him at a camp meet- 
ing in 1867 where the power of God was manifest. Souls 
were made happy in the love of God and some of them 
shouted aloud for joy. Mr. F. looked upon the scene and 
said : "I would give a thousand dollars to feel what I be- 
lieve those people feel." He was told that it was not to be 
bought, that he could have it without money and without 
price ; but he would not receive it, it cost too much. It 
meant to give up his business, repent and meet the con- 
ditions. 

God requires all, whether it be much or little; it must 
be given up or consecrated. God requires us to leave 
everything that will hurt us that He may give us some- 
thing better in return. God forbids us everything that 
would lower us to hell that He may bring us to heaven. 

In 1867 Mr. B. lived in the town of A. He was a 
miserable drunkard and a profane swearer, a vile sinner. 
He did not attend church of any kind ; he was taken sud- 
denly ill with pneumonia and the doctor was called in and 
gave him every attention possible. 

Mr. B. had a great desire to get well. On the third 
day the doctor came in at three o'clock and found him 
dying and said to him, '"If you have any important busi- 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 101 

ness to attend to, you had better attend to it, yon have 
but a few hours to live/ 3 He said, "Doctor am I dy- 
ing ?" The doctor answered, "Yes." He said, "Doctor, I 
cannot die. I am not prepared to die. I am a great sin- 
ner," and with a wild stare he continued, "Try to save 
my life. I am dying and I am lost, forever lost. Doctor, 
you do not know what it means; it is an eternal death, 
banishment from the presence of God forever. I do not 
want to die. Do doctor, try to save my life." A struggle 
and it was all over. The spirit had gone to meet God. 

These testimonies proved that "The forms which un- 
derneath thee lie shall live for Hell or Heaven." 



102 Life Sketches, 



i CHAPTER X. 

HOW TO BE SAVED. 

We read in the Bible of the natural man and the spirit- 
ual man, '"But the natural man reeeiveth not the things 
of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto Him, 
neither can he know them because they are spiritually 
discerned." 1st. Cor. 2:14. 

God had to reveal himself to man after the fall and he 
began in the garden to teach him, and the whole Bible 
is the revealed will of God to man and his teachings 
showing to the world the sinfulness of sin and its rem- 
edy. This teaching has been going on all through the ages 
and will to the end of time, as in Matthew 28th. Chap., 
19-20th. Verses — "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have commanded you, Lo I am 
with you always, even unto the end of the world." 

And here I am trying to teach the reader how to be 
saved out of God's word. The L$rd help me. 

In every mortal body there is a soul, and that soul will 
live for hell or heaven! "The wicked shall be turned 
into hell and ail the nations that forget God." Psalm 
9:17. '"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun 
in the Kingdom of their Father." Matthew 13 :43. 

The lives that we are now living are our probationary 
state when we are preparing ourselves for one or \he other, 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 103 

hell or heaven. The natural man is inclined to hell; 
men are prone to evil as the sparks are to fly upward; 
we are all sinners by nature. 

"Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my 
mother conceive me." Psalms 51 :5. We are totally de- 
praved. 

This necessitated a complete remedy for all sin and 
this has been abundantly prepared in a Saviour. "'And 
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save his peo- 
ple from their sins." 

Jesus said, "Suffer little children to come unto me and 
forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven/' 
Matthew 9 :14. 

"And He took them up into His arms, put His hands 
upon them and blessed them ;" and what the Saviour com- 
mends and blesses is freed from the curse of the law. 

And God commands parents to teach their children 
His commandments. 

"Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and 
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might ; and these 
words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine 
heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy chil- 
dren, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine 
house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
liest down, and when thou riseth up." Deut. 6th chapter, 
4th, oth, 6th, and 7th verses. 

Jesus Christ teaches that all little children are freed 
from sin and that all sinners must be converted and be- 
come as little children before they can enter Heaven. 



104 Life Sketches, 

The best time for parents to teach their children is 
before they sin ; before they arrive to the years of accoun- 
tability to know right from wrong. Teach them to love 
God and that God loves them. Teach them to shun the 
broad way of sin and teach their little feet to walk in the 
paths of righteousness and peace. 

Here they -come to the two ways : "Enter ye in at the 
strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that 
leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in 
there at; because strait is the gate and narrow is the way 
which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it." 

We call your attention first to the broad way; the 
ftnst wilful and known sin is the first step in the broad 
way, and men and women make themselves great sinners 
by adding sin to sin. 

We are all sinners by nature and in the broad way to 
destruction; sin has brought death into the world and we 
all have to die. If you do not turn from the broad way 
of sin when death comes you will drop into hell; a little 
time and you will be forever lost. But you need not be 
lost. Say unto them, "As I live saith the Lord God, I 
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." 

"It is appointed unto man once to die ;" and the life 
of man is while the soul and body are connected for a 
longer or a shorter time. When death comes the soul and 
body are separated and if you die in the broad way you 
are eternally lost. 

"The soul that sinneth it shall die." "The wages of sin 
is death." "The sting of death is sin." Death to the 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 105 

sinner is death temporal, death spiritual, and death eter- 
nal; your peace and happiness in life and in death and 
throughout eternity all depend upon your turning from 
the broad way of sin and wickedness. 

"Turn ye, turn ye from your evil w r ays for why will 
ye die oh house of Israel." Ezekiel 33rd chapter, 11th 
verse. 

Oh sinner, see how God pleads with you, and still he 
pleads saying, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; 
.call ye upon Him while He i^ near." God would not have 
any one hinder you. Hear Him pleading; "Let the widk- 
ed forsake Hie way and the unrighteous man hid 
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and He will 
have mercy upon him, and to our God for he will abun- 
dantly pardon." Your only hope of being saved is decision ; 
God cannot save you against your free will. It would de- 
prive you of your free agency and you must see and know 
that you are a sinner and in the broad way to destruc- 
tion. 

This the Holy Spirit is doing for the world as Christ 
said, "'And w T hen He is come he will convince the world 
of sin." You will turn from the broad way of sin by 
repentance and prayer and faith. You will repent by 
the aid of the Spirit showing you your sin and guilt and 
you will pray with the aid of the Spirit. "Likewise the 
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what 
we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself 
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot 
be uttered." 



106 Life Sketches, 

"Faith is the gift of God." With your hands and 
feet and the natural facilities you can use what faith 
you have. 

AH this you will see if you will stop and think. There 
are but two ways: the way to Heaven and the way to 
Hell. These ways are given the epithet of the right way 
and the wrong way, the good way and the bad way. The 
patriarchs and the prophets were taught these wave. 

I turned to the concordance and I find that the two 
ways are mentioned more than seventy times in the Bible. 
Every human being that has been born into the world and 
has arrive'd to the years of accountability, their lives cor- 
respond to one of the ways. Think of it as you may, and 
if you are in the broad way you must turn from it by for- 
saking all wilful and knowing sin with hearty repentance 
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to save you, "for he 
that cometh to God must believe that he is a rewarder 
of them that diligently seek him." 

You will not leave the broad way nor enter the strait 
gate without earnest prayer and individual effort. You 
will have to do violence to self, to all the senses and will. 
Jesus says, '"If any man will come after me, let him deny 
himself -and take up his cross and follow me." 

But -strait is the gate Christ has reference to. The 
public and private ways, the strait gate signifies literally 
what is called a wicket, a little door in a large gate. 

Among the Jews it signified metaphorically, the 
means of acquiring anything. So they speak of the gate 
of repentance, the gate of prayer, the gate of tears; it 
takes all this, with faith, to enter the strait gate. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 107 

Jesus is the gate, as he said, "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you I am the door of the sheep." John 10 :9. 

"I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall 
be saved." You must go to Jesus just as you are. Jesus 
invites you, saying "Come unto me all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden and I will give you rest." 

You must go to Jesus forsaking every sin, though it 
be as dear as a right hand or a right foot. It is better to 
give up all sin than to be cast into hell, into the fire that 
never can be quenched." Mark 9 :43, 44. "Where their 
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." Strive to 
enter in at the strait gate. Strive with agony of soul, 
for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able. It 
is a fact that after all that God has done to save the 
world that only a few are saved. With all that the 
churches have done a little calculation will show that the 
heathen outnumber the Christian world by the millions. 
And the 80,000,000 population claimed to Christian 
America only 19,000,000 are true followers of Jesus. 

"'Many will seek to enter therein and shall not be 
able." Why is it that they shall not be able? Simply 
because you do not and will not comply with the condi- 
tions. 

Men and women have been finding Jesus entering in 
at this strait gate for the last 1907 years; from them 
take courage. "God is no respecter of persons, but in ev- 
ery nation he that feareth Him and w r orketh righteous- 
ness is accepted with him." 

If you are a great sinner, Jesus is a great Savior; 



108 Life Sketches, 

there is not anything in all the world so sure as the par- 
don of sin, if you will comply with the conditions, which 
are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. "But without faith it is impossible to please 
him, for him that cometh to God must believe that he 
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek Him." 

And when the work is done in you, you receive pardon 
for all past and present sins that you have committed in 
past life. They are remembered no more forever. "The 
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are 
the children of God." 

This is regeneration or the new birth. "That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of 
the spirit is spirit. This is the spirit of adoption where- 
by we cry Abba Father." You have emerged out of 
darkness into his marvelous light, and "the things that 
you once loved you now hate and the things that you 
once hated you now love." 

When you find Jesus, you find the way. Jesus saith 
unto him, *I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man 
cometh unto the Father but by me." John 14 :6. 

Jesus says, "I am the door, the gate, the way, the 
truth or the word, and the life." In this Jesus shows the 
difference between the seeker and the finder. 

How few find Jesus the way, and still fewer that 
walk in it after they find it, and fewer still that continue 
in this way to the end of life. So many fail at this point. 
Jesus is the' way prophesied of by Isaiah 25 :8, 9, 10. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 109 

The young convert in his or her new found joy is 
head and shoulders above the average church member and 
worker in the -church, and sometimes the minister. The 
young converts in their zeal in work and hungering and 
thirsting after righteousness or holiness of heart and 
life, instead of the correct teachings and influence by a 
precept and example they get the influence of the world 
everything to lead them from Jesus the way, and dampen 
their ardor. They find themselves surrounded with ice- 
bergs. It is no wonder that they are led away from Jesus, 
backslide and go back into the broad way of sin. Man)* 
are deceived and in the broad way to hell, trying to 
persuade themselves that they will get to Heaven. 

The lowest scriptural standard of justification and re- 
generation is to live free from actual and wilful sin. 

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his 
seed remaineth in Him and he cannot sin, because he is 
born of God." 1st John 3 :9. 

Many ministers teach that this is all that there is for 
you ; others that sanctification is attained by a growth in 
grace; here you will have to differ with those that are 
not going on to perfection, for they will hinder you. 
"He that is not with me is against me." Seek the fellow- 
ship of those that have been cleansed from all sin or 
seeking to be. Justification and regeneration are a high 
state of grace but there is something better for you; it 
is the experience of all those who have travelled the 
highway. 

That it is a continual warfare of inward trial and 



110 Life Sketches, 

trouble. It is a nice point to keep saved ; the carnal mind, 
the old man, the fallen nature, the sin of Adam inherited 
by the fall must be destroyed or it will produce a crop 
of sin, because "the carnal mind is enmity against God, 
for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can 
be." "When I would do good evil is present with me." 

This Old Adam must be crucified and all the carnal 
mind must die ; you must die to all sin as dead as Christ 
was upon the cross after he said, "It is finished" and 
bowed his head and gave up the ghost. 

It was 'Christ's death on the cross that made death to 
sin possible. Now if we be dead with Christ we believe 
that we shall also live with Him. "Likewise reckon ye 
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto 
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Eomans 6 :8-ll. 
In the Apostle Paul's writing in the seventh chapter to 
the Eomans, the Apostle proves the guilt and wretch- 
edness of sin and the remedy ; he was constrained to ex- 
claim, "Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death. I thank God, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." The Apostles saw Jesus the 
only remedy. "Neither is there salvation in any other for 
iiiere is none other name under heaven giving among men 
whereby we must be saved." 

In the eighth chapter of Eomans, the Apostle teaches 
that we must be conformed to the image of Christ. This 
leads us to consider the way of holiness. Jesus spake 
many things unto them in parables. We see that when 
temporal things are compared to spiritual things there 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. Ill 

is a wonderful likeness, and it is by comparison that we 
comprehend spiritual things as in the case of the prodigal 
son and the ten virgins. 

Isaiah, the prophet, prophesied of the coming Christ 
and of the miracles that Christ would perform and of 
his teaching. The prophet in his prophetic vision could 
see the church as described in Isaiah 25 :4-10. 

*'And a highway shall be there and a way and it shall 
be called the wav of holiness." In this verse we find two 
ways described, the high way and the way. They are 
connected with that little word "and," a word that is used 
to connect words and sentences which shows that it is a 
separate and distinct way from the highway. You could 
not enter the strait gate nor get on the highway till you 
were pardoned of all your past and present sins, neither 
can you enter the way of holiness until you are cleansed 
from all sin. 

We have seen that the carnal mind, the old man, and 
sin in believers are compatible with the highway but not 
so with the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass 
over it. The carnal mind must be destroyed. This is 
the work of the Holy Ghost in answer to prayer and 
obedient faith, after the conditions are all met; in en- 
tire consecration all must be laid upon Jesus. 

Jesus is the altar that sanctifieth the gift. "All" 
means all that you can think of, and what you cannot 
think of, must be laid upon Jesus. 

You must have the assurance that your all is on the 
altar, then you must stand upon the promises of God in 



112 Life Sketches, 

His word by faith such as Bomans 12 :1, 2. "I beseech 
you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God, which is your reasonable service; and be not 
conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the re- 
newing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that 
good, and acceptable and perfect will of God." 

Thessalonians 5 :2 ! 2, 23, 24. "Abstain from all ap- 
pearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, 
and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you who 
also will do it." 

In a number of places in his word God has promised 
to .sanctify his followers and his faithfulness binds Him 
to fulfil His promises, Therefore He will do it. He who 
can believe will find this thing also possible to him. 1st. 
Thess. 4 :3,4-7. "For this is the will of God even your 
sanctification; that ye ishould abstain from fornication 
that every one of you should know how to possess his ves- 
sel in sanctification and honor, for God hath not called 
us unto uncleanness but unto holiness." 

Hebrews 13 :12. "Wherefore Jesus also that he might 
sanctify the people with His own blood suffered without 
the gate." Heb. 13 :20,21. "Now the God of peace that 
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great 
Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant, make you perfect in every good work." 

Hebrews 12 :14. "Follow peace with all men and holi- 
ness without which no man shall see the Lord." 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 113 

1st. Johnl :7. "But if we walk in the light as He is 
in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the 
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth ns from all sin. 7 ' 
1 John 3 :8. "He that committeth sin is of the devil, 
for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this pur- 
pose the Son of God was manifested that He might de- 
stroy the works of the devil.' 7 

This third chapter of 1st John puts to silence for- 
ever the false teaching that the Christian cannot live 
without sinning, for it teaches that under certain condi- 
tions we may be pure, even as He is pure, freed from sin. 
Ezekiel 36 :26. "A new heart also will I give you and a 
new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away 
the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a 
heart of flesh. 7 ' 

Eomans 6 :22. "But now being made free from sin and 
become servants to God you have your fruit unto holiness 
and the end everlasting life. 77 

And being free from righteousness is the finished 
character of a sinner, so being made free from sin is the 
finished character of a genuine Christian. 

John 8 :32. "And ye shall know the truth and the 
truth shall make you free. 77 

Matthew 5 :48. "Be ye therefore perfect even as your 
Father which is in Heaven is perfect. 77 

This means perfect in love not in knowledge; we err, 
make mistakes, but they are not sins. 

"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, 
and though I give my body to be burned and have not 
love, it profiteth me nothing/ 7 Deut. 6 :5. 



114 Life Sketches, 



"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
and with' all thy soul and with all thy might." 

Isaiah 26:3. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
whose mind is staid on thee, because he trusteth in thee." 

Philippians 4 :7. "And the peace of God which pass- 
eth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds 
in Christ Jesus." 

This peace passeth all understanding; it is of a very 
different nature from all that can arise from human oc- 
currence; it is a peace which Christ has purchased and 
which God dispenses. 

It is felt by all the truly godly, but can be explained 
by none. It is communion w r ith the Father and his Son 
Jesus Christ by the power and influence of the Holy 
Ghost. 

The above quotation proves that God will cleanse you 
from all sin and keep you clean. Now, if you have the 
assurance that your all is on the altar you must wait 
God's own time to do the work. You must wait in ear- 
nest prayer and faith believing that the blessing is for 
you till the fire of the Holy Ghost shall come upon you as 
it did upon the disciples in the upper room on the day of 
Pentecost and cleansed them from all sin, and endowed 
them with power. 

So you must wait till the cleansing power comes. 
"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he will 
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." Let 
us say with the poet : "I am waiting, waiting, waiting for 
the fire." "Whatsoever things ye desire, when you pray, 



Sticking Incidents and Sermon. 115 

believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them." 
The blessing will come. If you fail, you may know that 
the fault is on your side, "For verily I say unto you, till 
Heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall in 
any wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." 

The words of God which point out His designs are as 
unchangeable as His nature itself. Every sinner who 
perseveres in his iniquity shall surely be punished with 
separation from God, and the glory of his power and ev- 
ery soul that turns to God through Jesus Christ shall as 
surely be saved as sure as Jesus Himself has died. Eead 
the 17th chapter of John. It is very comforting to the 
seeker after holiness. 

Psalms 51 :10-13. "Create in me a clean heart, oh 
God, and renew a right spirit within me; then will I 
teach transgressors thy way and sinners shall be converted 
unto thee." 

Blessed way ! A clean heart starts us on the way and 
prepares us to teaeh others how to get on this blessed way 
of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it; the way- 
faring men, though fools shall not err therein. Sin hides 
this way from the wise and prudent but it is revealed to 
babes. No lion shall be there; the evil nature and pas- 
sion, original sin. "Lions and other ravenous beasts shall 
not go up thereon; it shall not be found there, but the 
redeemed shall walk there." Not a universal but a per- 
sonal salvation, cleansed by the blood of Jesus; it is a safe 
way and leads to everlasting life. 

Jesus said, '"I go to prepare a place for you." Jesus 



116 Life Sketches, 

is always with his true followers here and will have them 
with him in glory. 

John 17:24. "Father, I will that thev also whom 
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they 
may behold my glory." To him that overcometh, will I 
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over- 
came and am set down with my Father in his throne." 

What an exaltation to be admitted through the gate 
and into the city ! 

Matthew 13 :43. "Then shall the righteous shine 
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." "Eye 
hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the 
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for 
them that love him." ; 

Romans 14:17. "For the kingdom of God is not 
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in 
the Holy Ghost/* "Rejoice, oh ye righteous ; again I say 
rejoice." "They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow 
and sighing shall flee away." And what have we learned 
from the consideration of the ways? The ways prove 
a future reward and punishment. 

.2nd Corinthians 5 :10. "For we must all appear be- 
fore the judgment seat of Christ that every one may re- 
ceive the things done in the body according to what he 
hath done, whether it be good or bad." 

The great problem is reduced to two ways or to two 
great spiritual forces, God and the devil; they are the 
impelling power in the ways. Hell is a place and the 
broad way leads to it and if you are in the broad way and 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 11 



IV 



continue in it till death, you will get there as sure as 
you live. Heaven is a place and the way leads to it and if 
you are in the way and continue till death, you will get 
there as sure as you are living. 

I see a picture before my mind's eye and would that I 
could paint it as I see it. I see the world situated a? 
they are going tramp, tramp, tramp on their way to hell 
or heaven; the wicked influenced by the devil and im- 
pelled by his power in the broad way ; the righteous un- 
der the power and influence of the Spirit of God are im- 
pelled in the way and they are mingling together like the 
wheat and tares transacting business one with the other. 
Bank and caste are not known in this spiritual realm. 
The millionaire and the beggar walk side by side. I see 
the educated and the educator and the illiterate walking 
together; righteous and the wicked but the righteous are 
walking in the way to everlasting life and the wicked 
walking in the way to everlasting death. 

The two great forces are at work in the halls of con- 
gress; the kings on their thrones. I see the various oc- 
cupations in the world; asleep or awake you are govern- 
ed by one of the great forces called by Jesus, "ways." 
And think of it as you may, you are in one of the ways ; 
sin places you in the broad way to hell and under the 
power and influence of the devil. Holiness places you in 
the way to heaven and under the power and influence of 
God, and there is a conflict between the two. 

I see in the picture, the penitent sinner turning to 
God, then I see the righteous tempted, yield , commit sin 



118 Life Sketches, 

and go back in the broad way. The devil likes a shining 
mark, David sinned, Solomon sinned, and for a time 
left the way but repented and were wonderfully restored. 

I see in the picture a few great men in high places 
that I have known. I will not mention names but leave the 
reader to furnish them from those you know 'have turned 
from either way, — '"Of a truth I perceive that God is no 
respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth 
him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him." 
The world will be judged by the ways. The judgment 
will be separation day, when parents and children, hus- 
bands and wives, will be separated; one shall be taken 
and the other left* 

This brings to my memory a dream that Sister Mc- 
Donnell related to me in the home of her son, Francis 
McDonnell at Shell Pond, when I was traveling the 
Cedar Keys mission. Sister McDonnell was blind. She 
said to me, "I have not seen the light in three years 
since the cataract covered my eyes. I cannot see to read 
nor do any work and I spend most of my time praying 
for my children." 

"I have had eleven children born to me; they are all 
grown, two of them are ministers, others are bright 
Christians and workers in the church. One of them is a 
great burden to my heart. I fear that he is not saved 
and I have a great desire to have all of my children 
saved. One day I prayed for my children a long time; 
night came, I laid upon my bed musing. I felt depressed, 
I could not tell why for it was not usual with me. I 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 119 

thought how could I bear to see any of my children on 
the left hand in the day of judgment, and hear their sen- 
tences pronounced against them, "depart from me ye cur- 
sed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels.*' Would it not rob me of all my joy and peace? 
Would Heaven be Heaven to me ? In this mood I drop- 
ped to sleep and I dreamed that I saw the judgment. I 
saw the Saviour come in His glory and all the holy angels 
with Him, and He sat upon his throne; his face did 
thine as the sun. The light did not dazzle like the light 
of the sun, it was a lovely light. When I looked upon 
that face I was filled with ecstacy of joy beyond descrip- 
tion: all care was taken away; there was an oneness with 
my Saviour that I cannot describe. I found myself 
consenting to all that was done because it was all done 
according to justice before the throne.'* 

"'Before the throne were gathered all nations of the 
earth, and I saw them separated, the righteous from the 
wicked, just as it is described in the twenty-fifth Chap- 
ter of Matthew. The righteous were upon the right and 
the wicked on the left, and there were my children, some 
of them on the right and some on the left. I saw the 
Saviour look upon those on the right and in a lovely 
voice said. •Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you/ and there was a great shout 
upon the right hand." 

"Then the Saviour turned to the left with a disap- 
pointed look upon his face and in the same sweet voice 
said, ''Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire pre- 



120 Life Sketches, 

pared for the devil and his angels.' I was constrained 
to shout glory to God to the destruction of my own child- 
ren. I had passed beyond grief ; all tears had been wiped 
from my eyes and sorrow and sighing had all fled away. 
I awoke and it was a dream ; the dream had satisfied me. 
I know how it will be at the judgment ; we cannot grieve 
for the lost. This way is the way into the Holy City; 
when death comes to you in this way you will be in sight 
of home. 

"While gazing on that City 

Just o'er the narrow flood, 
A band of Holy Angels 

Came from the throne of God. 
They bore him on their pinions 

Safe o'er the dashing foam, 

And joined him in his triumph, 
Deliverance has come. 

"Then palms of victory, crowns of glory, 

Palms of victory I shall bear. 
"I heard the song of triumph, 

They sang upon that shore, 
Saying that Jesus has redeemed us, 

To suffer never more. 
Then casting his eyes backward, 

On the race which he had run, 
He shouted loud hosannah, 

Deliverance has come." 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 121 



CHAPTER XI. 

GUIDING AND LEADING OF THE SPIRIT. 

This August the 22nd, 1901. For the past three 
months I have been led by the Spirit in a way that is 
wonderful to me. Christ said to his Disciples before he 
was taken from them, "When the Spirit of truth is come 
he will guide you into all truth." Dr. Clark says of this 
passage; "As a father leads his infant child by the hand, 
so the Holy Spirit will guide and lead you. While the 
Holy Spirit cleanses from all sin and purifies the heart 
it is our leader. First, by giving us perfect light." Let 
us walk in the light and liberty. "The path of the just is 
as the shining light," Enoch walked with God, there- 
fore he walked in the light. For God is light and in him 
there is no darkness at all. Noah was a perfect man and 
God led him to the building of the ark for the saving 
of himself and those that would obey him. Noah^s faith 
and obedience delivered him. "The Lord knoweth how 
to deliver the godly out of temptation and reserve the un- 
just unto the day of judgment to be punished." Lot was 
led out of Sodom bv angels before its destruction. Abra- 
ham was called to go into a land that he knew not and 
was led in the way. Moses was wonderfully guided and 
led from his birth and to the end of life being called of 
God to lead the children of Israel out of bondage into 
Egypt, God promised to be with him. We read of many 
miracles that God did perform in Egypt, God in a won- 



122 Life Sketches, 

derful manner led the children of Israel out of bondage, 
directing every move for them to make, placing a pillar of 
cloud to guide them by day, and a pillar of fire by night. 
God was worshipped through Christ by types and shad- 
ows. Aaron and Moses were types of Christ. You can- 
not make a shadow without a substance, and there must 
be a light behind the substance. God is light; in him 
there is no darkness at all. When Christ was born into 
the world he was the substance of which the lamb had 
been the shadow. In all past ages the blood of Christ 
that was shed upon the cross, was the substance of which 
the blood of the lamb had been the shadow. In all past 
ages there was no efficacy in the blood of the lamb, 
nor of the blood of bulls or of goats, nor the ashes 
of heifers, only they pointed the believer to the 
body and blood of Christ. "For it is not possible 
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take 
away sins, God having prepared a better thing." That 
was Christ the holy, perfect sacrifice whose blood alone 
can cleanse from all sin. Water is typical of the Holy 
Ghost. John the Baptist said, "I baptize you with 
water." Nearly everything is cleansed with water and 
used in cleansing before offering the Jewish sacrifice, 
so the Holy Ghost 'cleanses from all sin. Fire also was a 
type and shadow of the Holy Ghost; fire refines and 
makes pure. Matthew 3rd. Chapter 11th. verse. — "I in- 
deed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that 
cometh after me is mightier that I whose shoes I am not 
worthy to bear, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, 



Striking Incidents arid Sermon. 123 

and with fire." This prophecy of John the Baptist was 
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Ghost was 
poured upon the assembly in the upper room and there 
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it 
sat upon each of them. ISTow they had the substance of 
what fire had been the type in all past ages, and the Holy 
Ghost that came at Pentecost is the conforter that Je- 
sus promised his Disciples that He would send. 

John 16:13, — "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, 
is come he will guide you into all truth." We have but 
to read the New Testament to see how the Holy Spirit 
guided and led the Disciples into the truth of God's word 
and God has guided His children by His spirit in all ages 
of the world, and will to the end of time. It is the good- 
ness of God that leadeth man to repentance. God is not 
willing that any shoudd perish. God has sent his Spirit 
into the world to guide His children and to convince the 
world. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, 
as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us- 
ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance." 2nd. Peter 3 :9. 

A young man who was a friend of mine said to me 
after a series of meetings held at a churdi that we attend- 
ed, "I feel that I ought to have sought pardon of my sins 
at the meeting. I have a presentiment that I will not live 
long." Just seven days and he lay a corpse. He was 
taken suddenly ill and died. In the late war in the 
United States a soldier, Mr. E, said to his comrades, 
"Boys, I will be killed tomorrow." He entered into the 



124 Life Sketches, 

battle the next day and the first shot pierced his head 
and he fell dead. Many instances of this 'kind could be 
given but the above shows the goodness of God to the 
children of men and the Mly of neglecting so great sal- 
vation. 

God calls as well as leads. The Lord called Samuel 
and led him till death. God took Moses and Led him 
through life and buried him on Mount Nebo and ha? 
been calling to men and women ever since. 

He called to Adam in the Garden of Eden saying, 
"Where art thou ?" And since the fall the souls of men 
are so related to hell and Heaven that both God and 
devils have access to it. "Know ye not that to whom ye 
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to 
whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience 
unto righteousness?" 

Salvation hinges on obedience. When God calls it is 
ours to obey; the devil tempts* and leads to sin and hell. 
God calls and leads to holiness and Heaven. The soul of 
man, Jehovah's breath keeps two worlds at strife. Hell 
moves beneath to work its death, Heaven stoops to give 
it life! 

God has delegated himself to call men into his service 
and lead them. He called the Patriarchs and prophets; 
Christ called twelve disciples, led and taught them. 

We point the reader to history ; it speaks for itself. We 
turn to the Eeformation. Martin Luther, John Wesley 
and his co-ajutors called and led away from their formal- 
ity to holiness. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 125 

Wesley wrote in 1790, "This doctrine is the grand 
depositum which God has lodged with the people called 
Methodists, and for the sake of propagating this chiefly, 
he appears to have raised us up. He called John Fletcher 
to write his book on sanctification or holiness of heart. 
Clark, Watson, Cook, Asbury, Hester Ann Sogers with a 
host of others, but as time rolled on, diurch members and 
the world grew rich and through unsanctified education 
the doctrine of holiness began to wane in experience and 
practice until some of the ecclesistics have given it up 
and hold it only in theory and given the church higher 
criticism which has brought a spiritual dearth and the 
world into the church which is just history repeating it- 
self. 

Why was a reformation necessary in the church of 
England? They had churches,9chools and colleges and 
clergy and parish, education, and wealth. To aek the 
question is but to answer it. It was because of worldli- 
ness, formality and unbeilief and want and need of the 
Spirit. They lack the enduement of power that the 
Holy Ghost alone can give. 

When this enduement came and the revival began, 
the ecclesiastics would not receive it ; as good as to say : 
"'Shall our son«s in the dmrch teach us ? Not seeing and 
knowing that out of the mouth of babes and sucklings 
hast thou ordained strength, because o? thine enemies 
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. God 
i* a Spirit and they that worship him mu*t worship him 
in spirit and in truth." 



126 Life Sketches, 

All Christian denominations believe in the office of the 
Holy Spirit which they realize in a degree. When a 
church believes and teaches that When an applicant joins 
the church and is baptized with water and supports its 
institutions, and does deeds of charity, will get to heaven 
without hearty repentance, and that being justified by 
faith, born of the Spirit and cleansed from all sin is a de- 
lusion, they do not seem to realize that salvation is a per- 
sonal and individual matter. 

"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none 
of His." '"In him was no sin, and sin shall not have 
dominion over you." 

We read in Eevelation what Christ said to the seven 
churches of Asia, through his servant John. "I was in 
the spirit on the Lord's day." John received the Spirit 
and vision of prophecy and was commanded to write 
what the Spirit saith unto the churches. 

The eyes of the Lord are upon the earth beholding 
the evil and the good, and the first thing revealed to John 
was the good that was in the churches, then to the back- 
slidden. He pleads most tenderly, "Thou art neither 
cold nor hot." Not very good nor very bad. There are 
many of this class in the various churches. 

"I will spew thee out of my mouth, because thou say- 
est I am rich." Many today are rich and some are very 
rich; they have the luxuries of life; they have all the 
market affords to eat and drink, clothed with the finest 
fabric of the looms, have large stores stocked with goods, 
large possessions of various kinds and pride themselves 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 127 

as Christian men and women; give liberally to build tall 
steeple churches with fine pews, support the gospel, all 
the temporal wants supplied. "Have need of nothing." 
Living and enjoying the pleasures of this world. Poor, 
deluded souls, "'and knowest not that thou art wretched 
and miserable and poor and blind and naked." 

When on a visit to the home of Sister A., she had a 
beautiful home blessed with all the comforts of life and 
all that heart could wish. She took me to her chicken- 
yard to show me her fine chickens ; we looked at the fine 
fowls and came walking back to the cottage together. 
She said to me, "Brother East, why is it that I cannot 
enjoy the world more? I have everything, yet I am 
wretched and miserable. I do not know Why it is?" 
And as we walked up the steps of the beautiful cottage, 
the porch all covered with vines, Sister A. sat down on 
the edge of the porch, her feet resting on the step, put 
her face in her hands and to her 'knees and in an agony 
oi soul said, "Why is it that I cannot enjoy the world 
more? Oh why it is that I cannot enjoy the world 
more ?" 

The love of the world had taken the place of the Spirit 
and there was an aching void the world could never fill. 
Like the Laodiceans, she was poor, had no spiritual rich- 
es, ho holiness of heart and life, but knew it not. Those 
that are out of the way and have not the spirit of Christ, 
are the last ones to suspect that they need a work wrought 
in them. 

This was shown in King David ; he sinned and it dis- 



128 Life Sketches, 

pleased God, and God sent Nathan, the prophet, to re- 
prove him and he saw himself a sinner. 2nd. Samuel 
11th 'Chapter — >"And knowest not that thou art wretched 
and miserable, poor, blind, and naked." I counsel you to 
buy of me gold, pure and undefiled relic;ioi], or the grace 
that is the fruit of the Spirit, and faith that is of more 
value than gold that perisheth, that thou mayest be rich, 
and White raiment that thou mayest be clothed. White 
raiment denotes holiness of heart and life and purity. 
"'And anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest 
see." 

"If thine eye be single thy whdle body shall be full of 
light." A more deplorable state in spiritual things can 
scarcely be imagined than that of the church, and it is a 
true picture of many churches today and of innumerable 
individuals. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, 
Be zealous therefore, and repent." Jesus said, "Behold I 
stand at the door and knock." At what door. The five 
senses; seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling. It 
was through the senses of doors that Satan entered be- 
cause they were open and unguarded. 

Eve 'heard (ear) door was open; she saw the fruit, 
(eye) door was open; she touiched it, (feel) door was 
open; she tasted, (taste) door was open, Satan entered 
all the doors and closed them behind him and man be- 
came the servant of the devil, and not only servants but 
children of the devil. 

Jesus in his controversy with the Jews said to them, 
"Ye are of your father the devil." John 8 :44. And the 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 129 

matchless love of God brought His Son Jesus to earth 
and has given him all power in Heaven and in Earth to 
reenter these doors; or else how can one enter a strong 
man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the 
strong man and then he will spoil his house." Matthew 
12 :29. Men through sin are become the very house and 
dwelling place of the devil. He that committeth sin 
is of the devil; and it is Jesus alone who can deliver 
from the power of this bondage. When Satan is cast out, 
Jesus purifies and dwells in the heart. Jesus is knocking 
at the door of thy heart pleading to enter. Jesus knocks 
at the door of thy heart, the Spirit knocks, the word 
knocks; the judgment of God knocks at the door of the 
sinner's heart, pleading to enter. Jesus will not force 
his way into thy heart. God has made man a free mor- 
al agent; you can choose or refuse; you can retain the 
devil in your heart, refuse to open the door and remain 
a child and a servant of the devil, serve him through, die 
and go with the devil to the devil's hell. If you choose, 
you can open the door of . your heart and let Jesus in. 
Jesus will cast the devil out of thy heart, enter, cleanse, 
purify, and abide in thy heart and you will be a child 
and a servant of God; you may serve him through life, 
die and go with Jesus to heaven and sit with him on his 
throne. 

Choose you this day whom you will serve. I am no 
pessimist; the church is all that makes this world worth 
living in. One of the greatest hindrances to the sal- 
vation of the souls of men and women in the church and 
the world is materialism. 



130 Life Sketches, 

The heathen has his 'God, but he is made of wood and 
stone, and he is to be taught that God is a Spirit and 
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in 
truth. 

The church in her progress has been hindered by ma- 
terialism. The building of the tower of Babel was an 
evidemce of Materialism; it displeased God and He con- 
fused their language. The children of Israel were pla- 
gued with Materialism when Moses was called upon 
Mount Sinai to receive the spiritual law written upon 
the tables of stone. They had Aaron to make them a 
golden calf and they worshipped it. The disciples of 
Christ were inclined to believe that he had come to es- 
tablish a temporal kingdom. The dhurch temporally, fi- 
nancially and commercially is far in advance of its 
spirituality. 

At the conferences that I have attended, when the 
question was asked, "What more can be done to increase, 
the .spirituality of the church ?" I have thought that a 
proposition would be in order something like this: — I 
propose that we go down upon our ; knees in prayer and 
fasting and seek to be made perfect in love as we said 
we expected to be made in our ordination and were groan- 
ing after it ; we will seek till we are endued with power 
from on high and we will induce our people to do the 
same." This would be answering the question in a spirit- 
ual sense. But in every instance the question is answered 
in a material way. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 131 



CHAPTER XII. 

PREACHIXG TO SIXXEKS. 

Like my Lord, I must speak the truth in love. I dare 
not despise or hit the sinner, if I do I miss the sinner 
and hit the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jesus died in the sinner's stead through love to him, 
and reproves him. "And when He is come He will re- 
prove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judg- 
ment." John 16 :8. 

Jesus loves sinners and not sin. Behold Him as He 
stands and weeps over Jerusalem saying, "Oh Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, thou which killest the prophets and stonest 
them that are sent unto thee. How often would I have 
gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her 
brood under her wings and ye would not." 

The Bible teaches that the devil is in every soul of man 
till he is cast out by the power of God. God's love 'and 
care for fallen man is wonderful for both soul and body. 

I remember an occurrence on a railroad; a passenger 
train loaded with passengers. The engineer, Mr. B., 
said U I was on time, going at the rate of forty miles an 
hour when all at once I had a presentiment as if I had 
heard a voice saying, "Reverse your engine ; there is dan- 
ger ahead.' I was looking out but saw no danger. A lit- 
tle further and the impression came again, with more 
force, 'reverse your engine; there is danger ahead.' A 
little further and the impression came with redoubled 



132 Life Sketches, 

force, 'reverse your engine; there is danger ahead/ It 
confused me. I gave my whistle a sharp blow, reversed 
the engine, and began to slow down. Bound a little curve 
I saw a misguided train loaded with passengers coming 
to meet me ; my sharp whistle had given timely notice and 
both engines stopped as they came together." 

By obeying the impression a great smash-up was pre- 
vented, which certainly would have occurred. 

This is taught in the ninety-first Psalm. "He that 
dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide 
under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the 
Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress ; my God in Him 
will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the. snare 
of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall 
cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt 
thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor the 
arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walk- 
eth in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at 
noon day. 

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at 
thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Only 
with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of 
the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is 
my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation, there 
shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come 
nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge 
over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear 
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 133 

stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the 
young lion and dragon shalt thou trample under foot. 
Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I de- 
liver him : I will set him on high, because he hath 'known 
my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him : 
I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and 
honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shov> 7 
him my salvation." 

I write my scripture text because I am writing to bene- 
fit the common people as well as for the student. 

This psalm teaches the goodness of God and his love 
and care for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the 
soul and body, and hie peculiar care and protection of 
them that are wholly the Lord^s, and abide and confide 
in him. God answers prayer. W. L. Murphy, my P. E. 
said to me, "I always get the appointment that I want in 
the conference." I said "How is that?" He said, "I ask 
the Lord to show me the work that he wants me to fill, 
and when it is made plain to me, which he always does, 
then I pray to the Lord to move upon the hearts of the 
Presiding Elders and Bishops to give me the appointment, 
and I have never failed in a single instance." "He shall 
call upon me and I will answer him." 

William Critzaburg, Junior preacher on Cypress Cir- 
cuit, South Carolina Conference, in 1843 had one hun- 
dred dollars of missionary money that had been collected, 
in his saddlebags; he stopped with Brother M. to spend 
the night, whose house was always the home of the 
preacher. 



134 Life Sketches, 

Mr. M. was an owner of slaves; the young preacher 
spent a very pleasant evening with the family and after 
praying with the family retired to his room, prepared 
himself for bed, knelt by the bedside to say his prayers. 
He was impressed that there was danger nigh; his mind 
was so distracted that 'he could not pray; he looked 
around the room, saw his saddlebags in the room, the mon- 
ey in its place, the door locked. He tried to compose 
himself, blew out the candle, laid down, but could not 
sleep. He could feel the presence of someone in the 
room. 

He decided to search the room; he arose and lit the 
candle, lifted up the curtain and looked under the bed 
and there lay a colored man, who arose and came out 
from under the bed and made for the window. The 
preacher caught hold of him by his suspender as he went 
out of the window, leaving the suspender in his hand, 
by which lie was identified later. "There shall no evil 
befall thee." 

Bishop Bascom was upon his second year's work in the 
mountains. His labors were so abundant that his time 
for reading and study as well as his general opportunities 
for improvement, were very limited. Yet such a man as 
he will always make opportunities for improvement. In 
winter this was difficult as in many of the families where 
he tarried there was but one room for all uses and for all 
persons and therefore the chances for quiet study within 
doors were very small. 

But when genial spring came and warmer summer, it 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 135 

gave to the lover of nature and of study, the free range 
of the forest ; he had a wide woodland chamber which he 
preferred to all others. He was indeed an enthusiastic 
votary of nature and dearly loved her wild and woody 
haunts. 

When he was done the travelling,preaching and class 
leading for the day it wag his custom to take a book and 
wander into the w r oods where he not infrequently re- 
mained till the fall of dusky twilight, or the hooting of 
the mountain owl admonished him that it was time to re- 
turn. 

On one of these occasions, having finished the regu- 
lar work of the day and partaken of his frugal repast 
with the hospitable family where he sojourned, he took 
his book, "Beatie on Truth/ 5 and sought the woods ; soon 
he entered a sweet wild vallev that nestled down be- 
tween two lofty mountains, w T hich rose on either side as 
if to guard his sacred retreat. 

He followed up the lovely dell until his eye rested on 
a large spreading thorn tree which in addition to its own 
dense foliage was all interwoven and mantled over with 
a thousand tendrils and broad leaves of a luxuriant grape- 
vine, presenting a shade inviting coolness and sworded 
carpet of refreshing green. 

Thither he went and delighted, cast himself upon this 
cool lap of nature to enjoy undisturbed, its delicious lux- 
ury. But scarcely had he opened the volume in his hand 
when a sense of unquietude came over him and he 
could not compose his mind to read. In vain he at- 



136 Life Sketches, 

tempted to reason himself into composure; in vain he 
assured himself that a more charming spot could not be 
found in the wide forest than that he then occupied. 

His restlessness increased until it arose to nervous ex- 
citement and selfreproachfully he arose and walked from 
the spot; just as he did so, the friend with whom he tar- 
ried, starting on a gunning expedition approached him 
and they met a few paces from the tree. 

At this ujncture the practiced eye of the hunter dis- 
covered what Bascom had) failed to detect. In a mo- 
ment his piece was levelled, the sharp crack of the rifle 
rang up the valley and as its echo came hack from the 
adjacent hills a huge, ferocious panther dropped from its 
concealment among the vineeovered boughs of the thorn 
tree and fell dead upon the very spot from which Bascom 
had but a moment before arisen. 

Under the promptness of that strange restlessness, 
shuddering at the hair breadth escape he had passed, and 
overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude to God he humbly 
acknowledged that it was the "Lord's doing and marvel- 
ous in his eyes/' He stopped the mouths of lions, 
quenched the violence of fire, The power of Jesus to 
work miracles is the same today as it was when on earth 
to them that believe. "He could not do many mighty 
works because of unbelief/ 5 

Perfect faith, entire consecration, perfect submission 
to the will of Christ brings us where Christ can work in 
us. "For it is G-od which worketh in you, both to will 
and to do of his good pleasure." Then it is no more I 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 137 

but thou. This brings us where Jesus can and when it 
is his will, will heal both soul and body. 

The leper said, "Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make 
me clean," and Jesus put forth his hand and touched him 
saying, "I will, be thou dean" and immediately his lep- 
rosy w r as cleansed. 

What the Lord wills is best, for whether we live, we 
live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the 
Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the 
Lord's. 

When a student at Cokesbury School I heard Wesley 
Whitman, my teacher, preach from these words, "And 
he that doubteth is damned if he eat." Komans 14:23. 
He related his experience to illustrate. He said "First, 
I was deeply convicted of sin. I sought the Lord ear- 
nestly and God for Christ's sake forgave my sins. My 
conversion was bright and clear, and for a time I had 
peace and joy in my soul, but doubt came into my mind. 
I resorted to prayer and was relieved for a time but my 
doubts returned. I again resorted to prayer and was 
again relieved ; the same was repeated till my life had be- 
come a conflict between doubt and victory. 

It seemed that the devil had set in to destroy my soul 
with doubts. I decided to have the victory. I entered my 
room and locked the door fully decided to have the com- 
plete victory or die in the attempt. I fell upon my knees 
and begun to pray, I prayed till the struggle became des- 
perate. I lost all sense of surroundings ; a cloud of dark- 
ness gathered over me like black despair, an angel came. 



138 Life Sketches, 

down through the darkness and slapped me on the thigh 
and said, "Peace, be still." And all was light and peace 
and joy. 

Six years have passed without a doubt. I will not at- 
tempt to explain; you can put your own construction 
upon it. 

I have related it just as it occurred to me. "For he 
shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all 
thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest 
thou dash thv foot against a stone." Psalms 91 :11-12. 

In 1860 at the camp meeting held at Adamsville, Flor- 
ida, the Holy Spirit was present. Brother €. was abun- 
dantly blessed. He said to me as he walked across the 
camp ground, "I want to have a talk with you. The 
Lord has blessed me in a most wonderful manner and I 
am deeply impressed that I am in a great danger of being 
killed suddenly, and it troubles me. Somehow I have 
been drawn towards you. I do not know why. I believe 
you have the Spirit of Christ, maybe you can give me 
some consolation or advice." 

I asked him if he had any enemies. He said, "If I 
have an enemy in the world I do not know it." I asked 
him if he had ever had a difficulty with anyone? He 
said, "I have not. I live peaceably with my neighbors." 
I said to him I have not the least doubt that the Lord is 
warning you of some danger. I advise you to be on the 
lookout. 

He asked me not to mention our conversation to any 
one for if it becomes circulated the people will say that 
I am going crazy. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 139 

Only five weeks had passed. I picked up the news- 
paper and read the notice of Brother C's death. The 
paper stated that Brother C. had been shot down in his 
own yard. Mr. B., in the neighborhood had committed a 
very wicked deed and a party of regulators took him and 
whipped him. Mr. B. accused Brother C. of reporting 
him; he loaded his double-barreled gun and went to 
Brother C's gate, called him out and shot him dead in 
his own yard. 

These evidences show God's good will to man. "Oh 
that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for 
his wonderful works to the children of men/' I find my- 
self at the task that I never can accomplish; like Paul 
writing to the Hebrews. Time failed him to tell of all 
that had been delivered. God talks to the children of 
men, especially to those that will hear from him. Ever 
since God talked to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 
he has been talking to men and women. God talked to 
the Patriarchs and prophets. 

Mr. Armitage had left to his care, his nephew to raise 
and to educate. The child being a multi-millionaire, 
Mr. Armitage did not let him know of his wealth; he 
taught him to be a Christian and gave him object les- 
sons of real life. He took him to the slums and showed 
him the sufferings of humanity and w r hen he was grown 
and about to take possession of his wealth, he impressed 
upon his mind the importance of setting apart one hour 
in each day and letting God talk to him. He must not 
speak his own words or think his own thoughts, but be 



140 Life Sketches, 

perfectly silent and let God talk to him, and whatever 
God told him to do, to go and do it. 

His nephew is giving millions to relieve the sufferings 
of mankind by building comfortable houses for the people 
in the slums. It is the privilege of all who are cleansed 
from all sin to walk and talk with God as Enoch did. 

Talk with us Lord, thyself reveal : 

While here on earth we rave, 
'Speak to our hearts and let us feel 

The kindlings of thy love. 
With thee conversing we forget, 

AH time and toil and care, 
Labor is rest and pain is sweet, 

If thou my God are there. 



Sinking Incidents and Sermon. 141 



OHAiPTEB XIII. 

A REMARKABLE INCIDENT. 

In 1865 in Middleburg, Florida, Brother T. J. Hend- 
ridks, who was a steward in the church, and I, a local 
preacher, both residing in Middleburg. A neighborhood 
prayer meeting was appointed and led by us. Brother 
Hendricks made a proposition to all the praying members 
to select a person and pray for him until he is converted. 
The result was a gracious revival ; a number of souls were 
brightly converted and some of them in direct answer to 
prayer. The prayer meeting was held on Sunday after- 
noon at three o'clock; the interest was so great that the 
meeting did not close till twelve o'clock at night. 

On Monday morning, Brother Hendricks walked into 
my workshop with the usual salutation; our meeting was 
always pleasant, for I had learned to dearly love him. 

That morning he looked pale and troubled. I said 
to him, "Brother Hendricks are you sick?" He said 
"Xo, but I am in trouble, and have come to have a talk 
with you." 

We sat down on the work bench and he said, tff You 
know that we have prayed specially for individuals and 
nearly all of them have been converted, but what I want 
to tell you is this : I selected a person and began to pray 
for that one and the Spirit forbade me to pray for that 
person saying, they were doomed. It made me feel awful. 



142 Life Sketches/ 

You can imagine my feelings. I had prayed till I was 
communing with Christ as friend with friend. I tried to 
drive the impression from me several times but I could 
not ; it was clearly shown to me that that soul was having 
the last chance. I thought of Abraham talking with the 
angels on their way to destroy Sodom; and I asked the 
Lord if there was any chance for that soul? and the ans- 
wer came to me and said. "If you will go to the prayer 
meeting and relate the circumstance as it has occurred, 
and will warn that soul and will give an invitation if they 
will accept, I will give one more chance. If they refuse 
it will be their last chance to be saved/ 5 He said "I have 
come to you to ask your advice. 55 

I told him that all the advice I dare to give you is for 
you to follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit. "Yes" 
he said, "It was clearly shown to me that it was the guid- 
ing of the Spirit from the start to the end/ 5 I said to 
him, "This is what Jesus said shall come to pass ; Howbeit 
when the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into 
all truth and he will shew you things to come. 55 

And at the next prayer meeting he repeated it as it 
had occurred to him saying, "That soul is present, and it 
has become my duty to warn you and offer you your last 
chance to be saved; and there may be others here that 
are being offered their last chance. 55 Then he said, "Now 
I invite all of you that will turn and seek the Lord to 
kneel and pray to the Lord to pardon your sins. In a few 
seconds nearly every one in the room were upon their 
knees, praying and crying for mercy, and when he saw 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 143 

the one that he was praying for seeking the Lord, the 
burden was lifted from his heart and he shouted aloud 
for joy and he prayed and exhorted and sang and shouted 
for four hours. 

Brother Hendricks was inclined to consumption; his 
lungs were weak, and we tried to dissuade him, fearing he 
would kill himself. He said, "It is not hurting me/' 
Then he said, •"Brother Bast, this blessing has oiven me 
great light on the Scripture; it has brought Scripture to 
my memory till I do not know but that I could repeat all 
the Bible. It seems that the Spirit has written it upon 
my heart." I never heard such a flow of Bible quotations. 
I said to him, "This is another fulfillment of the Scrip- 
ture." Jesus said to his disciples, "But the comforter 
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in 
my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all 
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto 
you/' John 14 :26. And again, "I will put my laws into 
their mind and write them in their hearts.'* 

Brother Hendricks was a man of fine intellect and of 
deep piety, gifted on exhortation, brilliant in prayer; his 
prayer sparkled with gems of thought. He was popular as 
a citizen; he was elected to represent Clay county in the 
Legislature of Florida. 

I moved from Middleburg and had been away for 
three years when I returned to transact some business. 
When I arrived I learned that Brother Hendricks was 
dying in the last stages of consumption. I went to see 
him and found him in his mind and could only talk with 



144 Life Sketches, 

great effort. Be said, "I am glad to see you. I want to 
give you my testimony ; you may do with it what you will 
when I am gone. The doctor says I am dying and it is all 
well with me. I am ready to die; my sins are all for- 
given; all is bright and clear. There is not a thing be- 
tween me and God; he has taken it all away. The Lord 
has blessed me abundantly amidst all my sufferings. I 
have suffered a great deal, and Brother East, I want you 
to pray for me. I want you to pray to the Lord to release 
me from my sufferings and let me go home and be at 
rest/ 5 

I said "I do not feel that I can pray a prayer like 
that. I don't see how we can spare you; your influence 
is so great. You have been the means of leading these 
young people to Christ; they need to be built up. I feel 
more like praying to the Lord to raise you up." 

I prayed with him and he said, "I enjoyed your prayer 
so much; we have worshipped together so often." 

This was on Saturday morning ; Sunday in the after- 
noon I was with him ; there came to see him twelve young 
people; he had been the means of leading them to the 
Savior. They gathered around hie bed ; he motioned his 
hand to stand back, they were suffocating him ; they moved 
back to the walls standing and looking at him. He said, 
"If it was the Lord's will, I would like to die now. I 
would like to show these young Christians how a Chris- 
tian can die." He then called his wife and children to 
his bedside and bid them good-bye ; the smallest boy was 
helped upon the bed, he kissed his father good-bye; they 



Sinking Incidents and Sermon. 145 

all kissed him good-bye and he said to each one, "Meet me 
in Heaven." 

The wife and mother overcome with grief, bursted into 
tears, fell upon her knees at the bedside and cried like 
her heart would break. 

He said, "My dear wife, don't do that ; it will kill me ; 
it will hasten me off. Don't weep for me when I am 
gone ; you will know where I am." 

She rose from her knees, wiped away the tears and 
said, "I will not weep for your sake." We were all stand- 
ing looking at him. Sister Hendricks turned to me 
and said, "Brother East, I envy him; he is going to die 
and go to Heaven and leave me with these five children to 
raise and educate ; how I feel the great responsibility and 
I, a woman. He being a man could do it so much bet- 
ter; if I was as well prepared as I know he is, I would 
gladly take his place and let him live." 

He said to her, "If you will trust in the Lord he will 
help you. I feel assured of that." 

The next day at nine o'clock, in great peace he fell 
asleep in Jesus, like a child going to sleep upon its moth- 
er's bosom. 

On the happy golden shore, 
When the storms of life are o'er, 
We shall meet again. 



146 Life Sketches, 

CHAPTER XIV. 

HEALED. 

I give here my testimony to being healed. In 1872 
working in a sawmill some hands that I was in charge of 
turned a stick of timber on my leg and bruised it, and 
made a sore which lasted three years, and bid fair to be 
sore for life. It would heal over but the least scratch 
would make it sore again. 

I had bruised it so often that I began to repine saying 
that I am destined to have a sore leg. I could not bear 
the thought; seldom a day passed that I did not bruise it 
and this happened so often that it was nearly all the time 
sore. 

I said, "I have left a gap down for the devil to worry 
me by not wholly trusting in the Lord." This passage oc- 
curred to me, "Commit thy way unto the Lord and he 
will direct thy paths/ 5 

I said on this promise I give this leg to the Lord, the 
soul and body thrown in, and from the moment of that de- 
cision there was a change; my leg got well and I have 
ploughed in new ground among roots and weeds and corn- 
stalks and have run after cows through rough woods and 
thirty-four years have passed without a bruise. All glory 
to God for his guidance. 

When I was seventeen years of age my father let me 
work at the carpenter's trade. I was building a barn 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 147 

for Mr. S. , and while nailing the shingles on the 

barn, being young and inexperienced as a carpenter, I be- 
gan at the wrong end to shingle. I shingled up to me and 
sat back; there was danger when I would get to the end 
of the barn of setting off. That night I dreamed that I 
was shingling on the barn and that I sat off and killed 
myself. I awoke in great fright, the dream appeared to 
be so real. 

The next morning I was afraid to go on the barn. I 
was so deeply impressed with the dream that I thought of 
giving up the job, but on second thought I decided to be 
careful and all the time on the lookout. I ventured up 
and went to shingling on the very course that I had 
dreamed of falling off and killing myself. I was shingling 
up to me and setting back. I was going to make a long 
set back; I thought of my dream, turned and looked 
round and my back was straight with the end of the 
barn; had it not been for my dream I would certainly 
have fallen off, and no doubt would have been killed. 
The impression made on my mind was that God had a 
place for me to fill or he would not have saved my life, 
unworthy as I was. "Thou shalt not be afraid of the de- 
struction that wasteth at noonday." 

I was healed in 1900. I had suffered with dyspepsia. 
In 1855 I had a spell of catarrahal fever that affected 
my lungs ; had a distressing cough that troubled me. La- 
grippe took fast hold on me and jaundice combined. 
My friends thought that I would die; I thought so too. 
T was willing and ready; was wonderfully filled with the 



148 Life Sketches, 

Spirit. The Savior seemed so near me that I could have 
reached out my hand by faith and have touched him. I 
was perfectly resigned to his will. I had no choice; I 
wanted his will to be done. I told the Lord that if he 
wanted me to finish my book, that he had the power to 
heal me and raise me up. I got well and what a change 
from a life of suffering to health, and for five years I 
have been able to work and enjoy life. To God shall be 
all the honor and glory ! 



CHAPTER XV. 

ON EDUCATION. 

A sanctified education is a great blessing ; it increases 
the possibility of being saved and of doing good in the 
world. 

An unsanctified education will lessen the possibility 
of being saved and lessen the possibility of doing good 
in the world. 

You may acquire all the learning that schools and col- 
leges can bestow and then be a wise fool. 

The ministry, the church and the world are cursed in 
a measure with this kind of wisdom. "Where is the wise, 
where is the scribe, where is the disputer of this world? 
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 
1st Cor. 1 -20. 

I have no fight against education nor enterprise or 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 149 

inventions or wealth honestly acquired, or the spread of 
the gospel. The churches have advanced on all these lines 
but have failed in a great measure on the line of entire 
consecration and entire sanctification. These ought ye to 
have done and not to leave the other undone. The church 
has set her eye too much on the temporal interest of the 
church to the neglect of the spiritual. 

God has raised up men and women endued with power 
to bring forward the spiritual as well as the temporal. 
This has started what is called the Holiness Movement. 
The revivals are spreading all over the world; may they 
continue to spread. Holiness schools and colleges have 
been founded. There is Asbury College, in Wilmore, Ky., 
founded by J. W. Hughes, where young men have been 
converted and sanctified and gone out in the world as 
preachers, evangelists and as lights in the world. 

Meridian Male and Female Colleges, founded by J. W. 
Beeson, have been wonderfully blessed with outpourings 
of the Holy Ghost, and are sending out men and women 
fire-baptized to build up the church and be a blessing to 
the world ; physical and mental scientists are of great im- 
portance but the spiritual culture is paramount. 



150 Life Sketches, 



CHAPTER XVI, 



THE SOUL'S CONVICTION. 



"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
and man became a living soul." Gen. 11 :7. 

The body is a wonderful piece of mechanism. What 
is the soul? Man is a compound being, soul and body. 
The body is of the earth and is wholly material. The 
soul is the breath of God and is wholly spiritual. The 
body is subject to death and decay; the soul can never die; 
it is indestructible ; you may maim the body but you can- 
not maim the soul. The body is but the tabernacle of the 
soul ; the eyes are the windows out of which the soul looks ; 
the mouth is the door out of which the soul sends out 
sounds to communicate with souls ; the ears are the doors 
through which the sounds are received and understood. 
This double man is subject to pain and pleasure; grief 
of soul will cause the tears to flow from the eyes, also 
will joy, a smile or laughter is the emotion of the soul. 
The soul is the allimportant man; though the outward 
man perish the inward man shall be renewed day by day. 
When the soul and body are separated, which must come 
sooner or later to all, the body is dead and moulders back 
to earth ; the spirit returns to God who gave it. It is my 
purpose to write on conviction. Conviction is not for the 
dead but for the living. The stages of life is infancy, 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 151 

childhood, youth, manhood, middle age, decline of life 
and old age; in these different stages the human family is 
to learn and what a school is life. The first thing the in- 
fant learns is to send out sounds and receive them, (The 
sense of touch). 

The next important lesson to learn is the relation to 
God, w.ho made you. On a mission I traveled I visited 
a home; the father and mother did not attend church, 
and it seemed to be the father's highest ambition to dance, 
go to shooting matches and drink whiskey. They had 
three pretty children, a little boy just at the age to be- 
gin to receive impressions. I had so won his favor that I 
thought I could catechise him a little. I asked him who 
made him? He stretched himself full length, gave me 
a square look and said, "Grandma found me in the woods 
in a gopher hole." I could not get his attention. My 
wife and I visited a home ; in this home were two bright 
little boys. The younger my wife catechised. She asked 
him who made him? "God." What did he make you for? 
"His glory." What can God do? "He can do all 
things," yes he made the world and all there is upon the 
earth, he made the trees, the grass, the flowers, the fruit, 
vegetables in the garden, the beasts, horses, cows, sheep, 
pigs, chickens, fowls, ducks, turkeys, geese and the birds. 
The little fellow became interested and said, "Did he make 
papa and mama too?" Yes, he made them too; he made 
the sun and placed it in the heavens. You cannot look 
at the sun, it will blind you. He made the moon; how 
beautiful it shines in the night; he made the stars, how 



152 Life Sketches, 

they twinkle in the dark. "Where is God?" God is in 
heaven and everywhere, heaven is a bright place. There is 
no need of the sun or moon in heaven. Bright angels 
are there and the gates are made of pearl, the streets are 
paved with gold. All the good little boys and girls go 
there when they die. 

That boy has grown up to be a man, is married and 
has a family of his own. He said to me, "The lesson 
Mrs. East taught me that day taught me the knowledge 
of God, his power and goodness, and about Heaven. That 
has been a light on my pathway and will be to the end 
of life; the seed had been thrown on good ground. 

The next lesson to learn in this school is that this 
double man is fallen, not only fallen but totally fallen. 
On the day thou eatest of the fruit thou shalt surely die ; 
he ate and died a spiritual death, lost the moral image of 
God. The total depravity of man is proven in the Bible 
by this act from Genesis to Revelation. At the fall of 
man the body begins to die; thou shalt eat bread until 
thou returnest to the ground. God turned on his search- 
light and saw both soul and body doomed to death. "In 
the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Man 
did die in a spiritual death not a temporal death. Man 
is dead while he liveth. God turned his searchlight on 
him and saw that at the end of his natural life there 
would be a second death ; he would be compelled to take 
his place with the fallen angels in hell. 2 Peter 2 :4. 
(For God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them 
down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness 
to be reserved unto judgment) . 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 153 

The next lesson to be learned in the school of life is 
that God looked upon the man that he had made and saw 
him exposed to death, temporal, spiritual and eternal and 
was moved with compassion for him. A more appropriate 
word that fully expresses the meaning, he loved him and 
purposed to redeem him and restore him to spiritual life 
with the blood of his Son Jesus, and the Savior promised 
that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's 
head. 

The next lesson to be learned is that redemption, sal- 
vation, life eternal is offered on condition of obedience; 
man being a free moral agent can choose or refuse, the 
fall has produced in man a disposition to refuse and to 
depart from God. Adam and Eve hid themselves in the 
garden. God had to go after them and man has to be 
gone after yet; they go astray as soon as they are born 
speaking lies. "Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in 
sin did my mother 'Conceive me." The love of God has 
ever been continued to man and will be to the end of 
time in all his disobedience and wanderings from him. 
No man hath a greater love than this that a man die 
for his friend. The purpose of God to give his Son to re- 
deem man runs like a golden thread all through the laby- 
rinth of the word of God. 

When God wanted a man to carry out his purpose he 
knew where to find him. God called the Patriarchs, 
Prophets, Moses and Priests, to teach and administer the 
Law, and through them were established the mode and 
manner of worship. They wrote and spake as they were 



154 Life Sketches, 

moved by the Holy Ghost. The expiatory sacrifice, the 
blood of atonement afforded by the Priests (Lev. 16:21- 
24) afforded in sincerity, delivered the worshipers from 
the offended Law and from all wilful and actual sin and 
the carnal nature inherited by the fall; this was the re- 
quired holiness. (Lev. 20 :7). "Sanctify younselves there- 
fore and be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God.' 5 Lev. 
26 :26," and ye shall be holy unto me for I the Lord am 
holy and have severed you from other people that ye shall 
be mine." We learn that the law, the commandments, 
the sacrifices and all the rites and ceremonies are but the 
manifestations of the love of God to fallen humanity. 
There are so many bars laid up to keep man out of hell 
and to win him to Heaven. The plan of salvation was 
made so plain that the wayfaring man though a fool shall 
not err therein. The sacrifices were types of Christ and 
an assurance to the world that he would come in the ful- 
ness of time. The prophecies of the Old Testament come 
under five heads, a dream, a trance, a vision, a revelation 
from God and by the Holy Ghost, and all the law and the 
prophets prophesied until John the Baptist, the last 
prophet under the Old Dispensation ; he was more than a 
prophet, he was the forerunner of Christ. He came to in- 
troduce the Savior into the world. 

We learn that God called the angels into service to 
carry out his purpose in the redemption of the world. The 
angel Gabriel appeared unto Zacharias as he ministered 
in the temple and said unto him, "Elizabeth, thy wife, 
shall bare a son and thou shalt call his name John ;" and 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 155 

it came to pass the son was John the Baptist. The Angel 
Gabriel appeared unto Mary the mother of Jesus and said 
unto her, "Thou shalt conceive and bare a son and thou 
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people 
from their sins." Caesar decreed that the whole world 
should be taxed, and all went to Bethlehem to be taxed 
and there Jesus was born in a manger for there was no 
room in the inn. His birth was announced by a host of 
angels ; the angels did not appear to Caesar the ruler, nor 
to the Sanhedrin in the synagogue; they passed them all 
by and appeared to the shepherds as they wiatched their 
flock by night. "Suddenly there was with the angels a 
multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good 
will toward men." The angels hovered over the manger 
guarding the baby Jesus and the wise men came and 
worshipped him as the Messiah, and when the wise men 
were departed behold the angel of the Lord appeareth to 
Joseph in a dream saying, "arise and take thy young child 
and his mother and flee into Egvpt and be thou there 
until I bring thee word for Herod will seek the young 
child to destroy him." 

Matthew 11 :19, 20. 'TBut when Herod was dead be- 
hold an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Jos- 
eph in Egypt saying, arise and take the young child and 
his mother and go into the l>and of Israel for they are 
dead which sought the young child's life." Luke 2 :40. 

"The child grew and was strong in spirit filled with 
wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him." Jesus was 



156 Life Sketches, 

the only child born into this world without carnality in 
his heart. He was a perfect child, grew up and became 
obedient to his parents and thereby became a pattern for 
all children. Matthew 3 :1. "In those days, came John 
the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea." We 
have already learned that John the Baptist was the last 
prophet under the Old Dispensation and that his coming 
was the fulfillment of prophecy. We now see John en- 
tering upon his mission, preaching in the wilderness of 
Judea: "Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea 
and all the region around about Jordan and were bap- 
tized of him in Jordan confessing their sins." There be- 
ing about six months between the birth of John the Bap- 
tist and Jesus. John standing and preaching to the 
great company, gathered on the banks of the Jordan ; Je- 
sus walked through the company, and John points to Je- 
sus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh awav 
the sins of the world." (What a recognition and what an 
introduction). 

John did not know Jesus only by the spirit of pro- 
phecy, being raised apart. John introduced Jesus to the 
multitude as God's Lamb making ready to be offered as 
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The 
lamb offered on the Jewish altar must be without blemish, 
otherwise it would not be a type of the immaculate Son 
of God. The Angel Gabriel said, "He shall save his peo- 
ple from their sins ; ' is the fulfillment of that prophecy. 
John pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sin of the world." We learn that 



Life Sketches. 157 

God to carry out his purpose in the redemption of the 
world uses man as his ally, so also Satan or the devil, the 
enemy of God, and man uses man as his ally to thwart 
the purpose of God. The devil effecting the fall of man 
and became the god of this world, his purpose has ever 
been to hold on to his possession and contest every inch 
of ground against it being taken from him, and all the 
battles fought between man and man have been fought 
between God and the devil, man being used as the in- 
strument, the right against the wrong and the wrong 
against the right. "He that is not with me is against 



me." 



We have learned from the Bible studies that the 
whole Bible is a history and description of the great war- 
fare that has been going on between these great spiritual 
forces; the devil is a usurper and has no right to control 
the will of man. God has a right to his will and obe- 
dience for he created him. When God promised that the 
seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head it was 
a proclamation of war, and this war has been going on 
and will continue till the last son iand daughter oi Adam's 
race has been received from the Kingdom of Satan and 
on the other side when the last soul of man shall neglect 
the offered mercy, continue in sin, live in sin, die in sin 
and be lost, go down to rise no more. 

I have given a few instances of the purpose of God to 
save man and bring a Savior into the world, now I will 
give a few instances of the purpose of Satan to defeat the 
purpose of God in a temporal warfare. It is important 



158 Life Sketches. 

to 'know the vantage ground, their strength and imple- 
ments of warfare and the commander-in-chief; it is also 
important in the great spiritual warfare to know the ene- 
my and his power. The Bible locates him, his name and 
rank is the devil, Apollyon, Satan ; he is a personal devil 
and it is important to know him and his power. He is 
called Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Matt. 12 :24 ; 
prince of the power of the air. 

We learn from our -concordance that the devil ij men- 
tioned fifty times or more in the Bible and the Bible lo- 
cates this iarch fiend, the devil, in every sinner's heart, and 
when God turns on the X-ray of the Holy Spirit and 
causes the sinner to see himself as God sees him, he see* 
and feels that he is lost, that Satan has possession and 
control of him. This is a true case of Bible conviction, 
hundreds and thousands, yea millions of men and women 
today thus realizing their lost condition become discour- 
aged and fall into despair; they look at their environ- 
ments; they see no way out and they run madly into 
death and to hell; in their remorse over a blighted life, 
they seek death, they drink ia bottle of laudanum as we 
have known some to do. They move at the bidding of the 
devil. The young lady ties a smoothing iron around her 
neck and jumps into the river and sinks to rise no more. 
The man loads his revolver, places it to his temple, pull? 
the trigger, the brairris severed and he is dead. Of course 
all that have committed this act are gone and we cannot 
do them any good, but those that see and realize that 
they are lost and in despair, are in reach of salvation if 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 159 

they can get the right teaching 'and instructions. Luke 
19 :10. "For the Son of man is -come to seek and to save 
that which was lost." Jesus offers life and salvation to all 
that will turn to him. To show you what the devil will 
do for you if you continue in his service. John 8 :44. "Ye 
are of your father the devil and the lust of your father ye 
will do." He was a murderer from the beginning and 
abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. 
When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is 
a liar and the father of it. We have to study devil tac- 
tics in this war or Satan will win the battle. To illus- 
trate: I remember reading an incident that occurred be- 
tween Lady Huntington and one of the Wesley brothers. 
They met at dinner table and the conversation led to speak 
of the spiritual life. Wesley had been converted in the 
great revival but his zeal had abated and was in a back- 
slidden condition. Madam Huntington, asked him why 
he did not be reclaimed and manifest his former zeal. 
He gave her a straight look across the table and said, 
"Madam, I am a lost man." She said to him, "I am glad 
of it." He looked at her -.again- and said, "Madam, do you 
mean to exult in mv beins; a lost man?" She said to 
him again, "Yes, I am glad of it. Jesus Christ came into 
the world to seek and to save that which was lost and 
you are the man." He said "Surely I am the man," 
while tears of confession coursed down his cheeks he was 
reclaimed sitting at the table. 

I remember reading a short sketch of Dr. Torrey's ex- 
periences. When a young man he did not succeed in bus- 



160 Life Sketches. 

iness as he expected and he became greatly discouraged 
and became despondent. One night he walked the streets 
of the city until he was tired and worn out, retired to 
his room with a faint hope of getting some rest, undress- 
ed and laid down but could not rest and in his great dis- 
tress he decided he would take his own life and get out of 
it. In a drawer in the house there was a sharp knife ; he 
decided he would get it and put an end to himself. He 
went to that drawer in the dark, felt for the knife but 
could not put his hand upon it, went back to his room 
dressed himself, went out to walk the streets again, went 
a little way and was attracted by singing. He went and 
found an evangelist holding meeting and as he went in 
the evangelist was describing his case preaching to the 
lost. "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lost." He went to the altar and was 
saved. He happened to get the right instructions just at 
the right time. Dr. Torrey is one of the greatest gospel 
preachers on the continent. 

When reading the life of John Wesley I was struck 
with the power of conviction in answer to prayer under 
Wesley's preaching. I quote from life of Wesley, page 79. 
Mention must be made of the extraordinary manifesta- 
tions which attended Wesley's preaching this year at 
Bristol and the neighboring country, April 17th at Bald- 
win St. We called upon God to confirm his word and 
immediately one that stood by cried out aloud with the 
utmost vehemence even as in the agonies of death, but we 
continued in prayer until a new song was put into her 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 161 

month and her soul set at liberty. A number fell from 
time to time as if struck by lightning; they would fall 
to the ground uttering cries and screams that were 
heart-rending; some of them their bodies were distorted 
in all shapes. After a season of praying their souls were 
set at liberty and their bodies restored. All men want 
proof, evidence and here it is; God in answer to prevail- 
ing prayer upon the word sent the spirit of conviction 
upon the people; all the evidence that is needed can be 
given at this point. The pastor as the traveling evangelist 
on occasions of revivals goes to God in the prevailing pray- 
er of faith, they call it praying through to victory, then 
the Holy Spirit comes down, sinners are convicted, souls 
converted and believers sanctified. I pity the preacher 
that has no evidence at this point. 

I believe if the plan of Wesley was carried out with 
fasting and praying, it would solve all difficult problems 
in the church ; if nothing more, sinners would repent and 
be justified and born of the Spirit, and when all the con- 
ditions are met will be sanctified 'and cleansed from all 
sin in the church as in Wesley's day. 

In this great spiritual warfare against the devil and 
his host, and the battle is on as never before, and we 
were not fighting against flesh and blood but against 
principalities and against power, against spiritual wick- 
edness in high places ; we find three classes in this spirit- 
ual warfare; the first class are the souls of those that are 
convicted by the operation of the Holy Spirit and see and 
prove they are lost without the pardoning mercy of the 
Lord Jesus Christ; with the right institutions they can 



162 Life Sketches. 

be saved. The second class are those that are lost and 
don't know it. They are by far the largest class and the 
most difficult to deal with. They are spiritually dead 
and must be raised to spiritual life; they are asleep and 
must be awakened. They are spiritually blind and must 
be restored to sight or will mope in darkness through all 
eternity. The gospel alone has power to restore them and 
Jesus has placed this gospel in the hands of men. This 
makes the responsibility very great to the ministers that 
are called to preach the gospel to dying men. 

If the minister fails to warn the sinner of his sins and 
that sinner should die in his sins, his blood will be re- 
quired at the minister's handfe. How strange it is that 
men will choose death rather than life. Jesus said to the 
Jews, "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." 
Men choose darkness rather than light because their deeds 
are evil and there is no man so blind as he that will not 
see ; they resist the Spirit. Ye do always resist the Holy 
Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. The thought of a 
chance until it is too late and are lost. 

The third class are those that comply with all the 
conditions and have been cleansed from all sin, made 
holy in heart and life, that have a title to a mansion in 
the sky. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 
"If ye abide in me and my word abide in you, ye shall 
ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." This is 
the secret of success. It has been said in every heart 
there is a throne and a cross, when Jesus is on the 
throne self is on the cross, and when self is on the throne 
Jesus is on the cross. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 163 

CHAPTEE XVII. 

RULES AND GUIDES. 

1. Improve the grace already given. 

2. It is no sin to be tempted. 

3. Never shrink from duty. 

4. The less we value ourselves in good works the more 
we are valued by others. 

5. There its no sacrifice too great to make for the 
Lord that hinders our salvation. 

6. "There is no excellency without great labor. " 

7. Never try to create a sum nor engross the Spirit. 

8. "All our light is from the Father of light." 

9. "Never laugh at what you say, for it begets weak- 
ness." 

10. "Always live near to Jesus in relying upon Him." 

11. "Fast and prayer — sometimes it is all that will 
bring the victory." 

12. "Be rich toward God." 

13. Declare the whole truth without fear or dread. 

14. "A man cannot be too afraid of dying before he 
learns to live." 

15. A working religion leads souls to Christ. 

16. Never fear that the Lord will not help, for He is 
ever ready to blees. 

17. "Be a free thinker; a man should think for him- 
self." 



164 Life Sketches. 

18. God has imparted a knowledge of himself to man 
in a way that he could understand. 

19. Individual efforts are necessary to save souk and 
do our duty. 

20. Seek more earnestly for souls. 

21. "Mind small things/' 

22. "Be diligent." 

23. "Self-control is prompted by humility." 

24. The Bible is the best guide for youth and old age. 

25. Pressing the right manner of preaching. 

26. "The precious smiting of a friend whose frowns 
are all in love." 

27. "There is joy in sorrow that none but a mourner 
can know." 

28. "He would be on the mountain top without the 
labor and toil of the climb." 

29. "Humility is queen among the graces." 

30. Know thyself. 

31. "Happiness is a wayside flower, if plucked, will 
wither in thy hand." 

32. "Imagination is not thought ■ right in fancy's 
reflection." 

33. "There is a grave face folly and a laughter lov- 
ing wisdom." 

34. "Praise a fool and slay him, praise a wise man 
and speed him on his way, for he carries the ballast of 
humility with him." 

35. Do good for good's own sake. 

36. Life is all today. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 165 

37. "Doest thou live, Oil man! doest thou live or 
only breathe and labor." 

38. "Walk worthy of thy vocation." 

39. "Flesh is the keys upon which the spirit plays 
in the progeny of reason." 

40. What a work ! The salvation of a world lying 
in wickedness. 

41. What benefit can I be to that soul while in its 
presence ? 

42. Preach the word and to the Lord be all the honor 
and the glory. 

43. The cross is a medicine kindly prepared for the 
health of the soul. 

44. "He that hath no rule over his spirit is like a city 
without a wall." 

45. "Open rebuke is better than secret love." 

46. "Never favor self but -consider all crosses what 
they are, as opportunities of embracing God's will and 
not our own." 

47. Never idle away time. 

48. "God is a present help in time of trouble/' 

49. ^Faith ie the divine instrument to pardon." 

50. "Temper is everything." 

51. "There is knowledge in love, the devil in hell 
knows." 

52. Claim all the merit there is in Christ. 

53. "A call to preach the gospel is an articulate 
within." 

54. "Every moment Lord, I need the merits of thy 
death." 



166 Life Sketches. 

55. "In peace, let me resign my breath, and thy sal- 
vation see my sins deserve eternal death, but Jesus died 
for me." 

56. Entire sanctification is the enduement for work. 

57. "Seek inward and outward holiness." 

■58. "Seek for holiness of heart rather than happy 
feelings." 

59. "Patience which is waiting and endurance." 

60. The way to correct an evil is to bring the truth 
to bear. 

61. Christ, not faith, saves. 

62. Bear all crosses from whatever source they come. 

63. "The prophecy of the Old Testament is under 
four heads; a dream, a trance, a revelation from heaven 
or by the Spirit." 

64. "The Christian motto : "Holiness to the Lord. 5 " 

65. The devil will try to destroy all our good. 
66 j "Hope is like a cork on the w 7 ater." 

67. "Eepenting days are the best days." 

68. Faith is the root from which all the branches of 
holiness grow. 

69. "Eaith is the gift of God as our natural powers 
we must use them." 

70. "The life of sense is the enemy that faith has to 
conquer." 

71. Sanctification is the key-stone in the arch, it 
takes so much upholstering. "Love is all that will endure 
in time and in eternity; gifts, prophecy, knowledge and 
faith shall vanish away. 



Striking Incidents and Sermon. 167 

72. The soul of man is so related to hell and Heav- 
en- that both God and the devil have access to it. 

73. "The soul of man, Jehovah's breath, that keeps 
two worlds at strife, hell moves beneath to work its death, 
Heaven stoops to give it life; 'Every moment, Lord I 
need the merits of thy death/ " 

74. Eepentance looks backward with ia weeping eye 
and forward with a watchful eye. 

75. "Just so far as we have given up entire sanctifiea- 
tion, we are a fallen, God-forsaken church/' — Lovic 
Pierce. 

76. Groans, sighs and tears, is the old man dying. 

77. The ideal state of humanity is purity. 

78. Sanctifieation does not deliver us from mistakes 
nor ignorance. 

79. Sanctifieation, my faith shuts me in, God is com- 
pelled to save me ; my unbelief shuts me out God cannot 
save me. 

80. Je^us, "without me, you can do nothing." 

81. Education and culture can never reform a nation, 
it takes righteousness. 

82. Christ physically, can be but in one place, but 
spiritually, he can be everywhere. 

83. If you will conform to the world and laugh the 
world will laugh with you; follow Jesus and they will 
leave you alone. 

84. So near so very, near to God, nearer I cannot 
be, for in the person of His Son 1 am as near as He. 

85. Some people like to believe a lie. A lie will go 



168 Life Sketches, 

half way around the world before the truth can get its 
boots on ito contradict it, 

86. Object preaching saves a great waste. 

87. He that gives God second place, gives Him no 
place. 

88. I will glory in infirmities, for Jesus is a match 
for all that can happen to me. 

89. Going often to the upper room brings man to his 
best, and brings the best 'to his fellow-man. 

90. Without the Spirit we are only marking time. 

91. Hell has a branch office in every carnal heart. 

92. Sectarianism has shed more blood than war. 

93. The peril of our clays is indifference. 



OCT 18 1913 






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